LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf..Q--«- 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



JOHN'S BAPT 



WAS IT 



From Moses or Christ? 



Jewish or Christian? 



OBJECTIONS TO ITS CHRISTIAN CHARACTER 
ANSWERED,. 

y^ BY 

J. TBL. GRAVES, 1.1^. O. 

Author oj "The Great i. jWheel," "The Seven Dispensations," "The Para- 
bles Explained," " T rilemma," "The First Baptist Church in America," 
"The Middle Life," "John's Baptism," "The Relation of Bap- 

tisvi to Scdvaiior.," " Conscience — What is Itf" 



1 H 



-V"*^ 



iJ. R. GRAVES a SON, 

SOUTHERN BAPTIST BOOK HOUSE, MEMPHIS, TENH. 

1881. 



.Ua 



X 




.Gc2 



COPYKIGHT 1891, BY 

J. R. GRAVES, 

MEHFHIS, TENN, 



11 



DEDICATION. 



-0-4- 



To 



All the Young Ministers 
now composing^ or who have composed^ 
*^The J. R. Graves Society of Religious Inquiry^' 

of the 

Southwestern Baptist University, 

Jackson, Tennessee, 

This little Book is affectionately dedicated 

as a slight token of his appreciation 

of the distinguished honor 

that Society has conferred 

upon the Author. 



MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY. 



CHARTER MEMBERS: 

B. J. DAVIS, W. M. FARMER, 

E. B. MILLER, 



W. B. CLIFTON, 

H. C. ROSEMAN, 
H. A. BURNS, 
W. D. BENE, 



J. W. HARRISS. 

J. W. ALFORD, 

F. D. COURCEY, 
A, L. DAVIS, 

J. W. MOUNT, 



J. L, FULLBRIGHT, 



FRANCIS BOZEMAN. 



Ill 



BOOKS WRITTEN BY J. R. GRAVES. 

First Baptist Church in America not founded by Roger Williams. . $1 00 

The Seven Dispensations. A key to the whole Bible and of the 

prophetic Scriptures, embracing a complete work ou Eschatoiogy. 2 00 

The Wew Great Iron "Wheel. A complete exposition of the doc- 
trines and policy of New Methodism 1 50 

Exposition of the Parables and Prophecies of Christ. An in- 
valuable book for pastors, Sunday-school teachers, and Bible 

students 1 25 

The Baptism of John ; was it from Moses or Christ? 1 00 

The Bible Doctrine of the Middle Life, or the State of the Dead 

between Death and the Kesurrection 75 

Seven Denominational Sermons 75 

Intercommunion Unscriptural 75 

Old Landmarkism— What Is It ? 75 

The Trilemma. The death of Protestantism, as well as the Catholic 
Church. A startling discussion. Few books have made so many- 
converts to the truth 60 

The Relation of Baptism or Obedience to Salvation 10 

The Act of Baptism 10 

"What is it to Eat and Drink Unworthily ? Paper, 10c. Bound , 25 

Conscience— "What Is It ? Have you a good conscience ? 10 

Baptism the Profession of our Faith 10 

All of. the above books are published only by the Southern Baptist Book 
House, Memphis, Tenn., and will be sent post-paid on receipt of price; also, 
the following sold at publisher's prices : 

WORKS BY PENDLETON. 

A Compendium of Theology. No minister should be without it . . . 81 50 

The Distinctive Principles of Baptists 1 25 

Church Manual 50 

Three Reasons "Why I am a Baptist, and Treatise on Com- 
munion 50 

Thoughts on Christian Duty. Paper, 15c. Cloth 25 

Questions to the Impenitent. Paper, 15c. Cloth 25 

DAYTON'S WORKS, 

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Ten Days in Search of a Church 1 00 

Infidel's Daughter 1 00 

Alien Immersion 50 

How Children May be Brought to Christ 10 

Sunday-school Question Books. Paper, 20c. Cloth 25 

Church Roll and Record Book S 00 

The Little Baptist 75 

iv 



PREFACE. 



The Baptism of John, whence was it ? 

— Christ. 

And they answered, we can not tell 

— The Jews. 

Why could they not tell ? 

Foi three centuries the ReHgious world has been divided 
between three Theories touching the place of John's Min- 
istry in the Development of the Redemptive Economy, 

I. It belonged to the Jewish Dispensation. 
II. It was an Intermediate Dispensation. 
III. It belonged to the Christian Dispensation. 

It must of necessity have belonged to one of these, for we 
can not conceive of a fourth Theory. 



CONTENTS. 



Part I. 



CHAPTER I. Page 

Introductory 7 

CHAPTER 11. 
Introductory 12 

CHAPTER III. 
Characteristics of the Man 17 

CHAPTER IV. 

John's Ministry did not belong to the Law, or Jewish Dispen- 
sation 22 

CHAPTER V. 
Exegesis of Acts xix, 1-7 39' 

CHAPTER VI. 
John's Ministry not an Intermediate Dispensation 48 

CHAPTER VII. 

Proposition : The Baptism of John belonged to the Christian, 

or Gospel Dispensation 54 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Proposition : The Baptism of John belonged ' to the Christian 

Dispensation 72~ 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Roman Catholic Church on trial by John's Baptism 84 

CHAPTER X. 
The Episcopal Church tried by John's Baptism 89 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Campbellite Society tried by John's Baptism 95- 



(vi) 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Page 



CHAPTER XII. 
The Baptist Church tried by John's Baptism 116 



Part II. 

CHAPTER I. 
Meaning of Baptizo 123 

CHAPTER II. 
Sacred use 136 

CHAPTER III. 
Physical objections to Immersion considered 141 

CHAPTER IV. 

The River Jordan — Does it afford water enough for immersion — 
Are its waters accessible — They were in the days of 
Moses and David 144 

CHAPTER V. 
^non — Was there water enough to immerse a person 160 

CHAPTER VI. 
JEnon, near to Salem 166 



Part III. 

CHAPTER I. 
Infant Baptism (unscriptural) , . , , 177 

CHAPTER II, 

The Old Testament Covenant given up as affording any ground 

for Infant Baptism ' 192 

CHAPTER III. 

Pedobaptists answer themselves — A most singular argument. . 195 

(Testimony of the Churches, in the order of their origin, touching 
the meaning of Baptizo, and the practice of that Church.) 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Greek Church, A. D. 3d Century 201 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Page 
CHAPTER V. 

The Roman Catholic Church, 7th Century 206 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Lutheran Church, 16th Century 210 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Presbyterian Church, 16th Century 213 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church 

of America, 17th Century. . . , , . 217 

CHAPTER IX. 

What do the scholars of the Independents, or Congregationalist, 

of England and America, say is the meaning of Baptize.. 221 

CHAPTER X. 
Unsectarian Works, English Encyclopedias and Dictionaries . . 224 

CHAPTER XI. 
What the commentators say 228" 

CHAPTER XII. 

Reasons why I should prefer immersion, were sprinkling and 

pouring admissible 232 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The children of Christians not baptized in the early centuries — 

Acts of Councils 238 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Why I am a Baptist 240 

Appendix A 24.2 

Appendix B (Certificates v. Ditzlerj 251 



IISTTEODUOTOEY. 



CHAPTER I. 



WHY HAVE I WRITTEN THIS BOOK? 

From the rise of the Papacy/'^ in the seventh century, 
of Protestanism^f in the sixteenth, and that of Campbell- 
ism I in the nineteenth century, " John^s baptism/^ which 
includes his ministry, Avhat he taught and practiced, 
has suffered violence, and these sects have unitedly and 
separately sought to destroy its Christian character in 
the faith of all men ; and to-day, after a lapse of a 
thousand years, there is no cessation in their assaults. 
It is noticeable that all Pedobaptists and Campbellites 
unite in teaching that it belonged exclusively to the 
Jewish Dispensation, or that it was an Intermediate and 
Independent Dispensation, which Avill be shov/n further 
on. The Campbellites rashly assert that not a Gospel or 
Christian utterance ever fell from the lips of John the 
Baptist or any man before the days of Pentecost: thus, 
with one fell blow, striking four of the books from the 



* No Catholic will claim that Papacy existed before the Roman 
Catholic Church, and thus independent of a Pope. It is an indis- 
putable fact of history that the Emperor Phocus ordained Boniface, 
the first Pope, " Bishop of bishops," and invested him with supreme 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, A. D. 610. 

t Protestanism had its origin at the Diet of the Spires, A. D. 1529. 

t Campbellism was originated by Alexander Campbell in the 
years 1835-40. 

2 (7) 



8 INTRODUCTORY. 

New Testament, and sealing the lips of Jesus Christ and 
the four Evangelists as Gospel teachers — liaving taught 
the way a sinner ma}' be saved ! Thus teaching, if the 
four Gospels, as they are called, were eliminated from 
the New Testament, that no vital truth would be lost 
to a dying world ! 

Baptists alone,* in all these centuries, as Christ's 
faithful and true witnesses against all these sects, have 
unanimously maintained the Christian character of 
John's ministry, that it was the beginning of the Gospel 
of the Kingdom of Christ (Mark i, 1), and that from it 
both the act of Christian baptism and the material of His 
churches and Kingdom are undoubtedly determined. 
They do believe that the act Christ himself received for 
baptism is the act He commanded His churches to ob- 
serve, and the self-same subjects He commanded John 
to baptize are those, and none other, He commanded 
His churches to baptize for evermore. Baptists believe 
that His divine example comes to them with the force of 
a command. 

The reader will not think it so strange a thing that 
Pedobaptists and Campbellites so bitterly oppose John^& 
ministry when he sees that his teachings radically de- 

* Baptists are not Protestants, for they never once belonged to, 
or came out of the Roman Catholic Church, since they existed seven 
hundred years before the Papacy and one hundred and sixty-two 
before the Protestants, and as clearly designates and sanctifies John 
xiv, 15, the only Christian act of baptism to the end of the age 
(John xiv, 15). Baptists feel the force of his words: "Ye are my 
friends if ye do whatsoever I command you;" "If ye love me ye 
will keep my commandments." And of these also: "But in vain 
do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments 
[tnulitions] of men" (Matt, xv, 9). 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

stroy the very ground on which these sects rest their faith 
and practice. 

There are eight significant facts worthy of considera- 
tion here : 

1. That Pedobaptists never refer to John^s baptism in 
support of their baptisms — i. e., sprinklings and pourings. 

2. Baptists always do, for the act they administer for 
baptism. 

3 Pedobaptists never refer to the example of Christ 
to sustain either of their modes of baptism. 

4. Baptists always do, in support of the one act they 
observe. 

5. Pedobaptists never refer to John's preaching and 
baptism in support of the baptisms of non-believers or 
infants. 

6. Baptists always do, in support of the immersion of 
believers. 

7. Campbellites never refer to John's baptism in sup- 
port of their practice of baptizing the unregenerate to 
regenerate the subject. 

8. Baptists always do, in support of their invariable 
practice of requiring a profession of faith and a satisfac- 
tory evidence — '^ fruits meet for repentance '' and regen- 
eration before baptism. 

The reason for these facts must be apparent to all. 
Pedobaptists and Campbellites do not believe that the 
ministry of John is favorable to their faith and practice ;. 
and Baptists are confident that John's ministry and bap- 
tism fully sustain their faith and practice. It is natural, 
then, that the former parties would oppose and the latter 
indorse John's baptism as authority — it being the begin- 
ning of the Gospels. 

But to return to the reasons for the appearance of this 
book. While the most vigorous and persistent assaults 
upon the Christian character of John's ministry and teach- 



10 INTRODUCTORY. 

insTS have been going on for two centuries past, and are 
still being waged, notwithstanding the wealth of the 
learning and polemical talent possessed by our denomi- 
nation, as is evinced by the multitude of books, pam- 
phlets and tracts issued and issuing upon the act and 
subjects of Christian baptism, not a pen has volunteered 
to defend the evangelical character of John's ministry 
in the last half century. My personal memory covers 
this period. I have written to the American Baptist 
Publication Society, in Philadelphia, and to the National 
Publishing Society, in St. Louis, and no intelligence of 
such a publication could I hear of.* 

Another and influential reason : It was in the hope 
that it might assist those of our ministry and lay brethren 
who have not the time for study, the more effectual ly to 
vindicate the Christian character of John's ministry, and 
the more readily answer the plausible objections so con- 
stantly and confidently urged against it. 

What tlie form and design of the ordinances were 
ivhen Christ first instituted them we must believe He 
intended them to remain until He comes again, for His 
last words were, " Teaching them to observe all things 
as I have delivered them unto you." 

When I remember how greatly needed was just such a 
vindication forty and even thirty years ago, when I was 
defiantly faced almost weekly with many of these argu- 
ments and objections ; and when I remember what dis- 
astrous overthrows I administered, by them, to some of 
the most learned opponents of that age, my enemies them- 



* In 1843, Rev. Robert Fleming, of Georgia, read an essay on the 
subject, which was requested for publication, and was published. 



INTRODUCTORY. 11 

selves, being judges, can but feel confident that the young 
ministers of to-day and " their successors in office/' to 
whom this book is dedicated, and its fortune committed, 
will find in these pages needed help for which they will 
thank me when I am in my grave. 

It may be pronounced a weak and imperfect vindica- 
tion, but still I can truthfully say it is the very ablest 
and best that has appeared in this century. But when 
the reader is informed that these pages have been writ- 
ten by the author when pillo wed-up in an arm-chair, and 
in the intervals between the spasms of sciatic pains, it 
is believed that the Christian reader, since he is expected 
to read for profit, will make all due allowance. 

Why write the book in these so unpropitious circum- 
stances? Because the author feared that, after waiting 
half a century for some abler pen to do the work so much 
needed by the denomination, it might not be done in 
another half century, if at all. 



12 INTRODUCTORY. 



CHAPTEE II. 

Before entering upon my subject — John's Ministry 
and its Proper Place in Christ's Redemptive Work — it 
seems quite proper to form a just idea of him as he is 
presented to us in the Scriptures. 

John the Baptist — In Prophecy — In His Nativity — In His 
Preparation for His Work — His Characteristics — His 
Message — His Audience, 

Seven hundred years before the advent of the Mes- 
siah, the person who was to herald Him is foretold in 
these words : " The voice of him that crieth in the wil- 
derness, ' prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight 
in the desert a highway for our God' " (Isaiah xl, 3). 

A silence of more than three hundred years was 
broken by another prophet speaking for the Coming 
One in these words : 

" Behold, I will ^nd my messenger, and he shall pre- 
pare the way before me: and the Lord [the Messiah] 
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even 
the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in : be- 
hold. He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." . 
^' And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver ; and 
He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold 
and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering 
in righteousness." (Mai. iv, 5.) 

Again thus clearly stating the mission of His herald or 
fore-runner : ^' Behold, I will send you Elijah the 
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful 



INTKODUCTORY. 13 

day of the Lord : and he shall turn the heart of the fathers 
to the children, and the children to their fathers, lest I 
come and smite the earth with a curse" (Mai. iv, 5). 

Let the reader notice that it was not Christ who was 
to be purified by His messenger, John, but the sons of 
Levi by Christ himself. 

Another silence of over three centuries followed, un- 
broken by a single communication to Israel, when the 
people of Judea and the inhabitants of the wilderness* 
were startled by the voice of this messenger of the 
coming Lord of Hosts, in the wilderness, proclaiming 
the fulfillment of these prophecies, and saying : " Repent 
ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The inspir- 
ing spirit leaves us in no doubt as to the fact that Jolin 
was " the voice," this ^' messenger of Christ," foretold by 
Isaiah and Malachi so many centuries before his birth. 
His birth and his name were pre-announced as was 
Christ's, His Lord, who was to come after him. 

This is the history of his nativity and parentage as 
given by Luke : 

" There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, 
a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia : 
and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her 
name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous 
before God, walking in all the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no 
child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both 
were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, 
t^iat while he executed the priest's office before God in 
the order of his course, according to the custom of the 

*The wilderness of Judea was comparatively an uninhabited 
waste — a grazing country — more sparsely peopled than the cities 
.and towns, as we speak of the country in contrast with the towns. 



14 INTRODUCTORY. 

priest^s office, liis lot was to burn incense when he went 
into the temple of the Lord. 

^^ And the whole multitude of the people were praying 
without at the time of incense. And there appeared 
unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side 
of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he 
was troubled, and fear fell upon him, but the angel said 
unto him, ^ Fear not, Zacharias : for thy prayer is heard ; 
and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou 
shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and 
gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he 
shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink 
neither wine nor strong drink ; and he shall be lilled 
with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the 
Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the 
spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fath- 
ers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of 
the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.' 

'^ And Zacharias said unto the angel, ^ ¥/hereby shall 
I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well 
stricken in years.' And the angel answering said unto 
him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and 
am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad 
tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able 
to speak, until the day that these things shall be per- 
formed, because thou believest not my words, which 
shall be fulfilled in their season.' And the people waited 
for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in 
the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak 
unto them : and they perceived that he had seen a vis- 
ion in the temple : for he beckoned unto them, and 
remained speechless. And it came to pass, that, as soon 
as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he 
departed to his own house. And after those days his 
wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, 
saying, ^ Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days 
wherein He looked on me, to take away my reproach 



INTRODUCTORY. 15- 

among men.' And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel 
was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Naz- 
areth. '' .... 

" And now Elisabeth's fall time came that she should be 
delivered ; and she brought forth a son. And her neigh- 
bors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed 
great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And 
it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to cir- 
cumcise the child ; and they called him Zacharias, after 
the name of his father. And his mother answered and 
said, ^ Not so ; but he shall be called John.' And they 
said unto her, ^ There is none of thy kindred that is 
called by this name.' And they made signs to his father, 
how he would have him called. And he asked for a 
writing table, and wrote, saying. His name is John. 
And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened 
immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and 
praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round 
about them : and all these sayings were noised abroad 
throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all 
they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, say- 
ing, ^ What manner of child shall this be !' And the 
hand of the Lord was with him. 

'^And his father Zachari as was filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ^ Blessed be the Lord 
God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His 
people. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for 
us in the house of His servant David : As he spake by 
the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since 
the world began : That we should be saved from our en- 
emies, and from the hand of all that hate us ; to perform 
the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His 
holy covenant; the oath that he sware to our father 
Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being 
delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve 
Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before 
Him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be 
called the prophet of the Highest : for thou shalt go 



16 INTRODUCTORY. 

t)efore the face of the Lord to prepare His ways ; to give 
knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission 
of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; 
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to 
give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow 
of death, to guide our feet into the w^ay of peace. ^ And 
the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in 
the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel/^ 

John was not Elijah the Tishbite, here promised, for, 
asked if he was that prophet, he answered expressly 
he was not ; and yet Christ said if he was, if they 
had so received him, his appearance, character and 
mission was an inceptive fulfillment of that prophet 
and his work — it was like unto Elijah's mission, as the 
scenes of Pentecost were not that, but like unto that 
prophesied by Joel. 

But that he was called and qualified to be a type of 
•of Elijah, who is to herald the second advent of Christ 
the Lord, and to prepare His people to receive Him, for 
he came in the spirit and the power, and to fulfill a like 
mission of Elijah the prophet. Christ is authority for 
this. 

^^ And His disciples asked Him saying. Why then 
say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus 
answered and said unto them, Elias shall first truly 
come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that 
Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have 
done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall 
also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples 
understood that He spake unto them of John the Bap- 
list.'^ (Matt, xvii, 10-14.) 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 17 



CHAPTER III. 

§THE CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE MAN.* 

" It may fairly be presumed, I think, that he had the 
natural advantages of a good personal presence and 
pleasing manner of address; that, at least, there was 
nothing ungainly in his personal appearance, unattract- 
ive in his vocal utterance, nor repellaiit in his manner 
when he addressed the people. It may be conjectured 
that he had even some of the graces of the orator ; but 
his success may be accounted for without taking these 
into account. 

" And, to my mind, the prime characteristic of the man 
was, that from an early period in his life he was im- 
pressed with a consciousness that he was called to a high 
mission from a source higher than and beyond himself. 
Hidden away from the world in the wilderness, and 
delighted with the solitude and companionship of nature, 
his meditations over the duty of his life must have been 
long and deep ; and here, in the quiet places of bodily 
rest, the empty soul, upturned to the sk}^, must have been 
filled with an overflowing sense of the Divine presence. 

" Desert sands are not always unfruitful, and lonely 
places are often the ones where the mind\s eye sees 
farthest into life's mystery. And it was here the sum- 
mons came to him, and in language we may not dis- 
cover ^the Word of God came unto John, the son 
of Zacharias.' 

^^How it came, or just when it came, is not important. 
He felt and recognized its message, and yielded to its 
authority. If he ever thought of questioning its cre- 

* These are set forth in a few forcible paragraphs by C. P. Jacobs, 
and as I can give no better, I therefore copy them here. 



18 John's baptism. 

dentials, we have no hint of it, and any suggestion of* 
evading or disobeying its command was promptly put 
down. 

'^ And when he was summoned, we may be sure, from 
results, even if we do not consider who it was that sum- 
moned him, that he Avas permitted to make proper prep- 
aration for his work. How he was girded about in 
spirit, or instructed in mind, or disciplined in heart, we 
are not told. It is all silence about this. But it was 
adequate — the furnishing of the man for the service. 
It satisfied the Chief, and the subordinate was not rest- 
less over any fancied lack. And it is never otherwise. 
When God anoints a champion he does not go down into 
battle unharnessed or untried. It may be Saul's armor 
will not fit him ; but there are stones in the brook, staves 
growing on the mountain side, and, if need be, the 
earth would reach out a hundred weapons from as many 
hands. It may have been in the halls of Pharaoh, in 
the camps of the Egyptian soldiery, or in the desert of 
Midian, or in all of these, that due preparation was 
made of a leader to conduct a chosen people out of 
bondage ; it may have been at the feet of Gamaliel, or 
upon the field of war, or both, that the character of the 
great apostle of the Gentiles was consolidated and 
indurated into that firmness which is now, as then, 
the greatest human illustration of Christian heroism. 
But clearly in all these, and in all others who have been 
appointed to great leaderships, or set for great defenses, 
in the Kingdom of the Lord, the most ample provision 
was made against failure. Men make mistakes in judg- 
ing men, God never does. Men imagine oftentimes that 
they are strong supports of God's government, but when 
from weakness, or infirmity of any kind, they drop from 
under it, there is not the slightest deflection. It never 
rested upon their shoulders. It may have touched them, 
but that v/as all. 

" At length the seclusion must be broken ; the exile 
was at an end ; the man v/ho avoided, now sought men. 



John's baptism. 19 

From the desert, barren of plant and man, he came into 
the Jordan valleys, fruitful and overflowing with both. 
He felt himself clothed upon with a high mission to his 
fellow-men, and with the power to execute it. They 
needed him because of what he could bring to them, and 
not for himself. And he knew this, and acted upon it. 
It was no matter of personal ambition to succeed in gain 
ing the ear and heart of the multitude, but a desire to 
render them a priceless service that urged him on. In 
his mission he lost sight of himself. He was not a 
prophet — not even a leader ; he was only a ' voice. ^ 

^^A herald, only to proclaim that the long-promised 
Messiah and King had approached. The greater than 
he, the One, the latchet of whose shoes he (John), 
great as he was in the estimation of the people, was ' not 
worthy to stoop down and unloose.' John understood 
his mission as a servant to a bridegroom, to manifest 
Him to his covenant people, Israel, as a nation, and to 
the waiting ones — the Annas and Simeons, the Zacharias 
and Elisabeths. He was not that promised prophet, 
^ Elijah, who is yet to come, but he was the type of 
that coming prophet.' He came to do the work that 
prophet will do before the second advent of Christ and 
the restoration of Israel. 

For the Kingdom of God was at hand and tlie King 
was on the way to establish the kingdom — one mightier 
than himself, of whom he w^as only the herald and servant, 
and who would increase in power and dominion, while 
the speaker himself shook! decrease, as a star's light goes 
out when the sun rises in the morning sky. 

§ THE CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE AUDIENCE. 

" The advent of a man of power, with a message that 
was striking in its freshness and power, had its natural 
effects. The whole country round about, and even the 
regions beyond was awakened from its dreams. Not 
only many of all classes of citizens of ' Jerusalem,' but 
^ all Judea ' — not only ' all Judea,' but ' all the region 



20 John's baptism. 

round about/ and on both sides the river Jordan. His 
mighty voice echoed among the roclvs and hills of Judea, 
among the mountains of Samaria, in the deserts and 
lonely places of Perea, was carried into the cities and 
towns of Decapolis, and reverberated among the p:i laces 
and towers of the city of David. The Pharisees, the 
ritualists and religious bigots of the time, heard it and 
sent deputations of priests and Levites from their num- 
ber to swell the audience that thronged about the won- 
derful preacher ; nay, went themselves in person. The 
Sadducees, the skeptics and rationalists of that age, 
could not absent themselves from his ministrations. 
Herodians, Essenes, scribes, lawyers, people of all ranks 
in life, publicans, soldiers, sinners of all grades — 
in brief, a mixed multitude, that represented ^ all sorts 
and conditions of men,^ came to his preaching, came to 
be his disciples, came and accepted his baptism and his 
doctrine. AH these, in the sight of the forerunner, the 
herald of the Gospel, all these belonged to a common 
race of men — all were the children of God. All were 
suffering under the common disease of sin ; all needed 
the same thing — forgiveness, and all had a common duty, 
that of repentance. 

^^ To him the factitious distinctions of rank, fortune, 
education and wealth were vain — they were nothing in 
God's sight, nothing in his own. He had not been 
taught in the desert solitudes that these, or any of them, 
w^ere of any moment; he came with no graded doctrine, 
but to lay the axe at the root of the tree if it brought 
forth no good fruit. The zeal of his message burns in 
every sentence of his speech as recorded in the Evan- 
gelists. 

^^ Things counted holy, things venerable with antiquity, 
things sacred from association, things of price, and things 
of pleasure, all were alike swept away in the torrent of 
his denunciation if he thought they stood between the 
multitudes and repentance. 

" He carried the thousands, who heard him for the time, 



John's baptism. 21 

with him; and from him they went forth, many of them, 
to be in turn the centers of new thought and new life 
in all the cities and towns who had heard his forerunner 
in the desert, and accepted the new doctrine with re- 
pentant hearts. And it was Jesus himself who summed 
up the position of the man who is the subject of this dis- 
cussion, in the words, that ^ Among the children of men 
a greater hath not arisen than John the Baptist, save 
He who is later^ in the kingdom of heaven,^ and of 
whom John testified, ' He that cometh after me is greater 
than I, the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to 
stoop down and unloose.'" 

* John said, ''He who cometh after me is greater than I, and 
He that cometh after me is preferred before me." It was He wha 
came after John that was greater than John. 



;22 John's baptism. 



CHAPTER ly. 

The Law was given through Moses — The people who know not the 
Law is cursed — Cursed is he who continueth not in all things 
written in the Book of the Law to do Them — The Law is a 
Servant to lead us to Christ — The first Theory Examined and 
Denied by Paul. 

JOHN'S MINISTRY DID NOT BELONG TO THE LAW, OR 
JEWISH DISPENSATION 

THE LAW — A RULE OF ACTION. 

Definition. — But tlie term is used in the Scriptures 
"with considerable latitude of meaning. 

1. Sometimes, the whole revealed will of God. Gen- 
erally, in psalms. 

2. Sometimes, of the Mosaic institution, as distin- 
guished from the Gospel (John i, 17). The law was 
given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus 
Christ. 

3. Of the whole religion of the Jews is called law. 
" The Law and the Prophets'' were until John (Matt, ii, 
13). In this sense it is called the ^^Law of Moses." 

4. Sometimes, for the ritual or ceremonial observ- 
ances — the Ceremonial Law, to which Paul alludes when 
he speaks of the Law being a schoolmaster — which should 
read foot-servant — to lead us to Christ, that we might be 
justified by faith, and of the Law of Commandments 
contained in the ordinances, " and being only the shad- 
ows [types] of good things to come of which Christ is 
the substance,'' and to which Christ refers when He says, 



John's baptism. 23 



<i 



think not I am come to destroy the Law [ceremonial], 
but to fulfill, and not one jot or tittle of the Law shall 
pass away until all be fulfilled.^' 

Argument. — I think I am warranted in saying that the 
Jews, as a race or nation, were more generally and thor- 
oughly acquainted with and observant of their Law than 
any other race or nation on earth, for the following 
reasons : 

1. Every duty — civil, moral, or religious — that God 
required of the Jews, He communicated to them through 
Moses, and he required Moses to write them very plainly 
in a book : the ten moral precepts, on two tables of stone, 
to be preserved before the Lord in the Ark of the Cove- 
nant. 

2. He commanded all further ceremonial, all the stat- 
utes, when they sat in the honse and when they walked 
by the way, when they laid down and when they rose 
up, to write them upon the door-posts and upon the 
gates. Did there ever live, or does there now live, a 
race that ever taught the duties of their religion so dili- 
gently and thoroughly as God commanded this people ? 

3. God enjoined the knowledge and observance of all 
things written in the book of the law by a curse, sev- 
erally and collectively : '' Cursed is every one that con- 
tinueth not in all things written in the book of the law 
to do them.^^ (Gal. iii, 10.) " But this people who 
knoweth not the law are cursed.'^ (John vii, 49.) 

4. God set apart one-twelfth of the males, one whole 
tribe, for the instruction of the people — to teach them 
law and administer the ordinances thereof. The tribe of 
Levi was appointed to this business — the priests and 
Levites who taught them. " And the Levites taught in 



24 John's baptism. 

Judah^ and had the book of the law with them, and 
they went through all the cities and taught the people." 
(Deut. iv, 9.) All the things pertaining to the law were 
then written in the book, and could be found in it for 
the instruction of the people. 

But, in addition to these instructive agencies, I could 
mention several others: 

5. There was a body of learned men whose profession 
was to make copies of the book of the law, by transcrip- 
tion, as printers do by the press ; these were called 
Scribes — Writers. They were doubtless the most famil- 
iar with the letter and words of the law. Many of the 
old men of this class could tell how many times a certain 
word could be found in any book of the law, and how 
many letters in any given book or division of the law. 
This was their pride. Then there was another class or 
learned profession — The Lawyers. They devoted 
themselves to the study and interpretation of the law, 
and the interpretation of its difficult passages. This 
class corresponded to the theological professors and doc- 
tors of divinity among us ; add to these their rabbis, and 
none will doubt that they were abundantly supplied with 
religious teachers. Considering all these most efficient 
agencies for the instruction of the Jewish people in their 
law and religion, am I not justifiable in saying that no 
people or nation that has existed, or that is now existing, 
was more thoroughly instructed in all things pertaining 
to to their religion, or more zealous in observing them, 
than the Jews? 

And, furthermore, are we not forced to the conclusion 
that, if John^s baptism was an institution or ordinance of 
the law, it would have been written in the Book of the 



John's bai-tism. ' 25 

Law? And are we not forced to the conclusion that, if 
written in the book of the law, it would not have re- 
mained undiscovered and unobserved for two thousand 
years, with so many thousand eager eyes searching con- 
stantly, lest some "jot or tittle" might pass unobeyed? 
Can such an idea be even reasonably supposed ? But if it 
can be reasonably supposed that, among so many things 
enjoined to be written in the book of the law, some small 
and insignificant thing might have been unrecorded — 
can it be reasonably supposed that one of the most 
important and vital things connected with the law, or the 
Jewish religion, could have been unwritten in the book, 
or, if written, remain undiscovered and unobserved for 
more than two thousand years, with so many hundreds 
of eager eyes searching, day and night, lest some "jot or 
tittle'' of the law should remain unfulfilled? Is not 
such a supposition absurdly irrational ? 

Yet, the overwhelming majority of the Pedobaptists 
believe that John's baptism belonged to the Jewish Dis- 
pensation, and that the act John administered to Christ 
was a washing of consecration, appointed for the formal 
and legal induction of Christ into His office of High 
Priest. All will admit that there could be nothing con- 
nected with the Jewish religion as important as the con- 
secration of Christ to His priestly office — supposing this 
belonged to the law of Moses. But, stranger to say, we 
find in the book of the law not the slightest intimation 
that, by any one of its ordinances or requirements, Christ 
was to be made a priest. And what, if possible, is more 
strange — not one thing that John did in connection with 
the baptism of Jesus does the law require for the conse- 
cration of a Jewish High Priest. And not one thing 



26 ' John's baptism. 

required by the law for the legal induction of a High 
Priest into his office did John do in the baptism of Christ, 
let us take time, and settle this question right here and 
noic. 

Did John baptize Christ to consecrate or induct 
Christ into His priestly office? 

This is not one of the dead issues of the dead past. 
It is an intensely live and practical one. Our salvation 
is most intimately connected with it. It can be settled 
beyond a reasonable doubt, and within the limits of this 
chapter, and by the Word of God. 

A LIVING QUESTION. 

Only three years since, Dr. T. O. Summers wrote a 
book on ^^ Baptism,^^ in which book (p. 103), with all the 
force of his specious reasoning and dogmatic assertion, he 
maintains that John baptized Christ to consecrate him a 
Jewish priest. These are his words : 

" But who does not see that Christ was baptized on His 
entrance upon His ministry, according to the custom of 
religious functionaries under the Jewish Dispensation? 
The priests were washed with water upon their assump- 
tion of the sacerdotal office; and, accordingly, as the 
Great High Priest of our profession, He submitted to 
this ceremonial initiation into His office. The Jewish 
priests w^ere consecrated at the age of thirty — the very 
age at which our Lord received baptism. By this public 
designation to His office He was made manifest to Israel 
as the Great Hight Priest over the House of God.'' 

He asks, " Who can not see it ?" 

The Rev. Richard Watson, an approved Methodist 
scholar and commentator, could not see it that way. 
Commenting on Matthew iii, 15, he says : '^The notion 



John's baptism. 27 

that Christ was baptized with reference to the entrance 
of the Levitical priests into their office, by anointing and 
baptism, does not seem to be well founded, since their 
baptism was a mere oblation which was continually re- 
peated during their ministry.'^ 

After this book had passed through several editions it 
was placed in the ^^ course of study '^ of candidates for 
the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. 
The theory and teachings I here oppose will be preached 
all over the South by Methodist ministers for genera- 
tions to come, and our young ministers will be compelled 
to meet them. 

Let us now turn and examine 

THE LAW FOR THE CONSECRATION OF A PRIEST. 

" And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them 
to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest^s office 
Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish, 
and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered 
with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil : of 
wheaten flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt 
put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, 
with the bullock and the two rams. 

^^ And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the 
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash 
them with water. And thou shalt take the garments, 
and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the 
ephod, and the ephod, and the breast-plate, and gird him 
with the curious girdle of the ephod : and thou shalt put 
the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon 
the mitre. Then thou shalt take the anointing oil, and 
pour it upon his head, and anoint him. 

'* And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon 
them. And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron 
and his sons, and put the bonnets on them : and the priest^s 



28 John's baptism. 

office shall be their's for a perpetual statute : and thou 
shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. 

'' And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before 
the tabernacle of the congregation : and Aaron and his 
sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. 
And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord, by the 
door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou 
shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon 
the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the 
blood beside the bottom of the altar. And thou shalfc 
take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul 
that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat 
that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. But 
the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt 
thou burn with fire without the camp : it is a sin oifering. 

" Thou shalt also take one ram ; and Aaron and his 
sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. 
And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, 
and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. And thou 
shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of hira, 
and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his 
head. And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the 
altar ; it is a burnt offering unto the Lord : it is a sweet 
savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. 

"And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and 
his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. 
Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and 
put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon 
the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of 
their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, 
and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And 
thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of 
the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his 
garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his 
sons with him : and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, 
and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. Also thou 
shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat 
that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, 



John's baptism. 29 

iind the two kidneys^ and the fat that is upon them, and 
the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration : and 
one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one 
wafer cut of the basket of the unleavened bread that is 
before the Lord: and tbou shalt put all in the hands of 
Aaron^ and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them 
for a w^ave offering before the Lord. And thou shalt re- 
ceive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar 
for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the Lord : 
it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And thou 
shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, 
and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord : and it 
shall be thy part. And thou shalt sanctify the breast of 
the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, 
which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of 
the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and 
of that which is for his sons: and it shall be Aaron's and 
his sons' by a statute for ever from the children of Israel : 
for it is an heave offering; and it shall be an heave offer- 
ing from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their 
peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the Lord. 

^' And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' 
after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated 
in them. And that son that is priest in his stead shall 
put them on seven days, when he cometh into the taber- 
nacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place. 

^^ And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and 
seethe his flesh in the holy place. And Aaron and his 
sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is 
in the basket, bv the door of the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation. And they shall eat those things wherewith 
the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify 
them : but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they 
are holy. And if ought of the flesh of the consecrations, 
or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt 
burn the remainder with fire : it shall not be eaten, be- 
cause it is holy. And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and 
to his sons, according to all things which I have com^ 



30 John's baptism. 

manded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them. 
And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offer- 
ing for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when 
thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint 
it, to sanctify it. Seven days thou shalt make an atone- 
ment for the altar, and sanctify it ; and it shall be an altar 
most holy; whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy. 

" Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the 
altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. 
The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the 
other lamb thou shalt offer at even: and with the one 
lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part 
of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an bin of 
wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt 
offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat 
offering of the morning, and according to the drink offer- 
ing thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire 
unto the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt offering 
throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle 
of the congregation before the Lord: w4iere I w^ill meet 
you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet 
with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be 
sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the taber- 
nacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify 
also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the 
priest's oflice. 

" And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and 
will be their God. And they shall know that I am tlie 
Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land 
of Egypt, that I may dwell among them : I am the Lord 
their God.'' 

Now turn and see what John did to Jesus when he 
baptized him : 

" In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in 
the wilderness of Judsea, and saying. Repent ye : for the 
kinr^dom of heaven is at hand. For this is He that was 
spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying. The voice of one 



John's baptism. 31 

crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,. 
make his paths straight. And the same John had his 
raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his 
loins ; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then 
went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the 
region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in 
Jordan, confessing their sins. 

^^But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Saddu- 
cees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation 
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to 
come ? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance : 
and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham 
to our father : for I say unto you, that God is able of these 
stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now 
also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore 
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with 
water unto repentance : but Pie that cometh after me is 
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : 
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire : 
whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His 
floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will 
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

^' Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, 
to be baptized of him. But John forbad Him, saying I 
have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 
And Jesus answering said unto him, SufPer it to be so now : 
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then 
he suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went 
up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens 
were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God 
descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him : and lo 
a voice from heaven, saying. This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased. '^ 

The reader would doubtless think me very rash indeed 
should I affirm that had John been authorized to have 
consecrated Christ a Jewish priest, and had done no more 



32 john'3 baptism. 

than he did do, he would have involved himself in a 
direful curse, and that had Christ assumed the priestly 
office under the law, He should have been put to death 
by that law. But I will prove both statements. 

Take John's case in consecrating Jesus : unless he ob- 
served all things enjoined by the law of consecration, he 
not only would not have made Christ a priest, but would 
have brought upon himself the curse of the law, which 
says: 

'^Cursed is every one: how much more a priest who 
continueth not in all things written in the law to do 
them?'' 

Now examine his baptism of Jesus. Did he do all 
things that God commanded to be done in consecrating 
■a priest? Did he so much as do one thing required by 
the laAV? 

1. Did John take Jesus and a priestly robe, garment, 
anointing oil, a bullock, two rams, and a basket of un- 
leavened bread ? 

2. Did he gather all the congregation to the door of the 
iabernacle f 

3. Did he take Jesus to the temple and wash him with 
water ? 

4. Did John then put a coat upon Christ, and girdle 
Him with a girdle and clothe Him with a priestly robe? 
etc, 

5. Did he put a mitre or golden plate and a holy 
crown upon Christ? 

6. Did John anoint the temple, or any part thereof, 
with the anointing oil ? 

7. Did he sprinkle thereof upon the altar seven 
.times ? 



John's baptism. 33 

8. Did he anoint the altar and all the vessels thereof? 

9. Did John pour the anointing oil upon Christ's 
head ? 

10. Did John then bring a bullock, and did Christ 
lay his hands upon the head of the bullock, and did 
John slay the bullock ? 

11. Did John bring another ram, etc., and slay it? 

12. Did he put blood upon the right ear of Christ, 
and on his right thumb and right toe ? 

13. Did John, then, take the blood that was upon the 
altar and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon 
Christ and His garments, and thus consecrate or hallow 
Him unto the Lord? 

14. Did John take of the ram the fat and the rump, 
and the fat that covers the inwards, and the caul above the 
liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon 
them, and the right shoulder, for it is the ram of conse- 
cration?^ 

15. Did John also take one loaf of bread, and one 
cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of 
the unleavened bread, put them all into the hand of 
Christ, and wave them or shake them before the Lord • 

16. And, then, did John receive them from the hands 
of Christ and burn them upon the altar for a burnt 
ofiering? 

No priest ever was or could be consecrated without 
this ram of consecration. Everything that must be 
done is placed before you, reader — everything John 
did do — and will you now decide if John consecrated 
Jesus a high priest ? 



* Decide if John slew one and used his blood when he bap- 
tized Christ. 



34 John's baptism. 

Bear it continually in mind that no one save a 
Levite could be made a priest ; and Jesus was of the 
tribe of Judah, and according to the express statute of 
the law had He assumed the priestly office, being a 
stranger, it would have been the duty of the Sanhedrim 
to have put Him to death. 

Again, Christ was a priest of another covenant — of 
grace — and He, therefore, was made a priest by another 
law. 

^^ For the priesthood being changed, there is made of 
necessity a change also of the law. For He of whom 
these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of 
Avhich no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is 
evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah of which 
tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And 
it is yet far more evident : for that after the similitude 
of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is made, 
not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after 
the power of an endless life. For He testifieth, ^ Thou art 
a priest forever after the order of Melchesidec' For 
there is verily a disannulling of the commandment 
going before for the weakness and unprofitableness 
thereof.^' 

Christ^s priesthood was not after the order of Aaron, 
but of Melchisedec; he was not made a priest by the 
law that Aaron and his sons were, but by oath of God. 
How, then, can an intelligent Christian say that John 
made Christ a priest, and inducted Him into His priestly 
office by baptism ? What most dire and unthought of re- 
sult has happened the human race from the days of Adam 
until the day and hour John baptized Christ? It is 
axiomatic that no man elected to office can enter upon 
the duties or discharge the least function of the office 
until he has been formally and legally inducted into 



John's baptism. 35 



the office. Mr. Harrison's veto^ before his inauguration, 
would have been lighter than the thin air. No officer 
of our Government is clothed with the least authority 
or can exercise the least function of the office to which 
he has been elected before he has taken the prescribed 
oath of office. This, then, has been the dire result of 
Mr. Summer's theory to the race. 

Not a soul of the race who has died before the hour that 
John baptized Jesus has been saved, and for the best 
reason in the world : The race was without a Savior — a 
priest to intercede for them, for Christ had not been in- 
ducted into His priestly office ! 

Again, and still more terrible to contemplate: If 
John consecrated Christ a priest by Jewish rites and 
ceremonies, he only made Him a Jewish priest — author- 
ized to exercise only the functions of a Jewish priest, 
and, like them, only a type [shadow] pointing forward to 
a Christly real priest who was to come. If only a Jew- 
ish priest He could do no more for us than those priests 
could do for the Jews; but, with all the blood they ever 
shed, or all the sacrifices they ever offered, no sinner has 
been saved or ever will be saved ! 

Who will accept this monstrous result in order to 
build an argument tor the affusion of unconscious infants? 

But this is by no means the direst result of Dr. Sum- 
mers' theory, maintained by the M. E. Church. 

The World still is without a Savior, or the slightest 
hope of one ! ! 

For if John consecrated Christ a priest he consecrated 
Him only a Jewish Priest and nothing more ; and that 
is the only consecration or induction into office Christ 
will ever have ! 



36 John's baptism. 

Therefore the world has never had and never will 
have a Savior ! The whole race is forever lost ! And 
this^ for the best reason in the world — the Jewish priests 
never saved any one. They were not real priests — 
only shadows of the real that was to come. Not all of 
them, with all their bloody sacrifices, from Aaron until 
the last one that ever officiated, has ever saved a soul. 

" Not all the blood of beasts 
On Jewish altars slain, 
E'er made a guilty conscience clean 
Or washed away one stain. 

But Christ, the Heavenly Lamb, 

Takes all our sins away — 
A sacrifice of nobler name, 

And richer blood than they." 

Thus does this abominable theory annihilate the worldV 
Redeemer and eternal Great Pligh Priest from the earth 
and consign the race to hopeless ruin ! 

LOGICAL AKGUMENTS. 

1. If John's baptism belonged to the Legal Dispen- 
sation, its duty and form would have been commanded 
by God and written in the book of the law, as circum- 
cision and all the other ordinances were. 

2. But it was not written in the book of the law. 

3. Therefore, it did not4Delong to the Jewish Dispen- 
sation. 

If John's Baptism belonged to the Jewish Dispensa- 
tion, and was written in the book of the law, as were all 
things pertaining to the law, that the Jews were com- 



John's baptism. 37 

manded to ^^ observe and do/' the precept could have 
been found in the book, and, presumptively, examples 
numerous. 

But after the most diligent searching by people and 
priest, by scribes and lawyers, for more than two thou- 
sand years, no shadow of precept for or example of 
John's baptism can be found. 

CONCLUDING AND CONCLUSIVE ARGUMENTS. 

If John's Baptism belonged to the Law of Moses, or 
Jewish Dispensation, it certainly could be found written 
in the book of the law, as circumcision and all other 
legal ordinances. 

But it can not be found written in the book of the 
law,* as can circumcision and all other legal observ- 
ances. 

Therefore, John's Baptism did not belong to the law 
or Jewish Dispensation.f 

The only semblance of an argument known to me 
urged in support of the first theory — i. e., that John's 
ministry belonged to the Jewish Dispensation, and that 
his baptismal act was a Jewish washing, and no more a 



'"" In proof presumptive to prove this negative, the most dili- 
gent search has been made by people and priests, scribes and 
lawyers, for nearly five thousand years, and neither a shadow of 
precept for, or example, of any thing like John's baptism, can be 
found in the Law or Old Testament. 

t This argument can be urged with equal force against infant 
baptism being a scriptural ordinance or Christian duty. Pedobap- 
tists say infant baptism is taught in the Word of God, and for 
nearly two thousand years they can find neither precept for nor ex- 
ample of it. 



38 John's baptism. 

Christian ordinance than circumcision — is that Paul 
did not recognize the validity of those baptized by 
John when he met such cases, and knew that they were 
the disciples of John, and had been baptized by John. 

The transaction at Ephesus, and the rebaptism of the 
twelve disciples of John is confidently referred to as 
conclusive proof in support of their theory. I grant, if 
we admit the correctness of their interpretation of Luke's 
record of the transaction there, it would afford the 
shadow of ground for their statement; but their con- 
struction of the passage is in violation of the well known 
rules of syntax, and obviously and absurdly false, which 
I propose to demonstrate in this Exegesis. 



John's bapiism. 39 



CHAPTER Y. 

EXEGESIS OF ACTS XIX^ 1-7. 

" And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at 
-Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts 
came to Ephesns ; and finding certain disciples, he said 
unto them, Plave ye received the Holy Ghost since ye 
believed? And they said unto him, we have not so 
much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And 
he said unto them, unto what then v/ere ye baptized ? 
And they said, unto John^s baptism. Then said Paul, 
John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, 
saying unto the people, that they siiould believe on Him 
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name 
of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands 
upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them ; and they 
spake y/ith tongues, and prophesied. And all the men 
were about twelve. ^^ 

The Questions: 

Were these twelve men reimmersed ? 

If so, why ? 

Discussions on these questions have come down to us 
from the sixteenth century, and, strange to say, both 
Baptists and Pedobaptists have advocated both sides of 
the questions in the last three hundred years. When 
Protestants, in the sixteenth century, demanded of 
Baptists a scriptural warrant for rebaptizing, they con- 
fidently referred to this passage, claiming, at the same 
time, that they (Baptists) did not rebaptize, but simply 
baptized. 



40 John's baptism. 

Calvin, the father and founder of Presbyterianism^ 
gave himself no rest until he had formulated an exegesis 
of the passage that would rob Baptists of its authority 
in the support of their practice. He did this by a 
specious misconstruction of the pronouns they, in the 
fourth and fifth verses, claiming they referred to the 
people to whom John is said to have preached in the 
fourth verse. 

Because this record has been in dispute for over three 
hundred years by the best scholars in those centuries^ 
are we justified in saying that it can not be undoubt- 
edly understood if the rules of interpretation governing 
the construction of the Greek language be observed ? or 
to say that the Holy Spirit did not intend it to be un- 
doubtedly understood ! 

What is this but blaspheming the Holy Spirit ? The 
Holy Spirit claims this part of the I^ew Testament to be 
an infallible revelation of the acts of the apostles; and 
yet He formulates a record, designedly selecting words so 
hopelessly ambiguous, and formulating them in sen- 
tences so contrary to the rules governing the interpreta- 
tion of the language used, that the best scholars of the 
age, to say nothing of the commonly intelligent, can 
undoubtedly ascertain what is meant. Who will say 
that this is not blaspheming the Holy Spirit ? Indeed, 
it is of the most gross and impious sort. 

Although Baptists in Calvin's day unhesitatingly re- 
jected his exegesis of this passage as incorrect, yet, in 
the century following, when the discussions on the act 
and subjects of baptism raged "fierce and hot,'* and the 
Baptists urged the authority of John's baptism and min- 
istry with irresistible force against the affusion of infants^ 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 41 

Pedobaptists hedged them with the argument (?) that 
John^s baptism was not a Christian ordinance, but a 
Jewish rite, used by John to induct Christ into His 
priestly office, and, therefore, no example for us, etc. 
Baptists met them with the authority of Calvin, one of 
their own poets, to prove the Christian character of 
John's baptism with his misconstruction of Acts xix, to 
save it from being discredited by PauPs refusing to re- 
peat it in the case of the twelve disciples. 

And this is the case to-day. All Pedobaptists and 
some Baptists who, strange to say, lay claim to scholar- 
ship, (! !) maintain, on grammatical grounds, that these 
twelve were not reimmersed ! 

And, yet, how many professed Pedobaptists, and others 
taught by them, confidently say that the Holy Spirit de- 
signedly selected a word of generic signification when It 
described what John did to Christ when he baptized 
Him ; so that His disciples in after ages could not cer- 
tainly ascertain the specific act Christ observed and com- 
manded His disciples to observe for baptism when he 
commanded them to baptize, or to be baptized; for, very 
few are so reckless as to say that Christ observed one act 
when He was baptized, and commanded His disciples 
to observe quite a different thing when He said " fol- 
low me.*' 

The interpretation of this passage turns upon the pro- 
nouns and their proper antecedents. Now there is no 
one principle in any language, touching pronouns, more 
axiomatic than this. 

Pronouns should not be used instead of their antecedents, when 
their use would in the least obscure the sense of the passage in 
which they occur, much less when they make the passage doubt- 
ful or ambiguous. 



42 John's baptism. 

Construing the passage by this rule, every English 
scholar is bound to decide that the pronoun ^^ them ^' of the 
sixth verse, and ^Hhey'' of the fifth, manifestly refer to 
disciples of the first for their antecedents. The narrative 
plainly declares that Paul laid his hands upon those who 
were baptized ; but since he did not lay his hands upon 
those John baptized, he must have laid his hands upon 
these twelve disciples. 

To say that the pronoun " them ^' of the sixth verse, 
and the pronoun ^^they'' of the fifth, do not refer to the 
same antecedent, is to charge the inspired writer with 
using the pronoun so as not only to obscure, but to con- 
tradict the sense ! The reason is obvious, for it is a sim- 
ple continuous narrative, and there is nothing introduced 
to show that they refer to different antecedents, and 
therefore v/e are forced by the laws of language to refer 
them to one and the same antecedent. 

The Greek docs not only Avarrant this rendering, and 
the construction we have given, but it unquestionably 
demands it. Every Greek scholar knows that the con- 
junctive but has an adversative force, and is therefore used 
to call attention to the fact that the Vv^ord or clause with 
which it stands, is to be distinguished from something 
preceding, while and is often used to resume the discourse 
after a long parenthesis ; while the ofiice of and is to 
continue the narration. Now, turning to the original, 
we may expect that the transition from tlie relation of 
Paul to that of Luke would be indicated by tbis adversa- 
tive, de, that marks the change from Luke's narrative to 
Paul's, but instead of this, we find the kai introducing 
the fifth verse, and only the simple connective and, intro- 
ducing the sixth verse. Therefore, according to the use 
of these connectives in the Greek, we must conclude that 



John's baptism. 43 

Paul's narrative closes with the fifth verse, or the sixth 
would have been introduced with hut, and the fifth with 
and. 

Prof. Charles Anthon, (Pedobaptist), one of the most 
accomplished of American Greek scholars, says : " The 
word ^Hhey^ in verse five of xix Acts, refers clearly to 
the ' disciples ' mentioned in the first of the chapter, and 
not to those who are spoken of in verse four as having 
been baptized by John. The particle de, at the commence- 
ment of verse five, is employed to mark transition, and 
is not meant to be the correspondent particle to the men 
of verse four. * ^i^ * PauPs narrative, therefore, 
closes with verse four. Any other view of the q uestion 
is open to serious difficulties.^ 

Not only do the particles above determine the question, 
but the regimen of the pronouns and particle, employed 
by the inspired historian. 

It is not a verb in the Aorist tense, in the original, but 
a participle, and the conjunction, buty that is rendered in 
our version, " And when they heard this.'^ The literal 
rendering is, '^but hearing this,^^ etc. The participle 
akousantes in the nominative plural, can not refer to laoo 
which is in the dative singular, as its antecedent, but to 
autous, the representative of mathetas, disciples, in verse 
one. We think no Greek scholar will question this. 

Then, again, the sixth verse being connected to the 
fifth, by the copulative conjunction and, instead of a dis- 
junctive, requires that autois, them, akousantes, hearing, 
should have the same antecedent — disciples. Thus does 
the original clearly demonstrate that these twelve dis- 
ciples were rebaptized. 

*In a letter to the writer, 1851. 



44 John's baptism. 

Albert Barnes (Presbyterian), of this says: ^' This is 
the obvious interpretation of the passage, which would 
strike all persons as correct, unless there were some pre- 
vious theory to support. The opposite is a most forced 
construction.'' (See his notes on Acts xix.) 

Alexander Carson (Baptist), acknowledged by scholars 
to be the '' Prince of Philologists,'^ says : 

^' I can not see how it can be denied without doing 
violence to God's Word" — i. e., that those disciples were 
baptized. 

If these twelve disciples were reimmersed, as I claim 
to have demonstrated they were, then it must have been 
because there was an irregularity in their first baptism 
which rendered it void. There are four things essential 
to scriptural baptism — 

1. A scriptural act. 

2. A scriptural subject — i. e.,. regenerated. 

3. A qualified administrator. 

4. Design — i. e., for a scriptural purpose. 

We are authorized to suppose that something connected 
with them awakened Paul's suspicion that all was not 
right with them ; that, if they were what they professed 
to be, he desired to know if they received the Holy Ghost 
when they believed. He therefore asks : " Did ye in be- 
lieving receive the Holy Ghost?" For this is the form 
of the question in the original. They replied, ^' We did 
not so much as hear if there be a Holy Ghost." This 
frank disavowal of so much as any knowledge of such a 
person in the Trinity as the Holy Ghost, was well calcu- 
lated to awaken Paul's surprise, and he very appropri- 
ately asks, ^^ Into what then were ye baptized?" Into 
what faith could ye have been baptized? — what Christian 



John's baptism. 45 

•evangelist could have taught and baptized yon and you 
not so much as have heard of the existence of the Holy 
Spirit?* And they answered; ^^Into John's baptism." 
They did not say, *^ We were baptized by John/^ as they 
unquestionably would have done had they received the 
act at his hands, in which case they certainly Vv'ould have 
heard from him that there was a Holy Spirit. They un- 
derstood that they had received and been baptized into 
the faith or doctrine that John preached, by some one of 
John^s disciples doubtless, and, if so, he was not qualified 
to administer the act, and, never having heard of the 
Holy Spirit, or experienced its renewing influences, 
they themselves were not proper subjects for Christian 
baptism. 

Here we have a conspicuous want of three of the 
essential elements of Christian baptism ; 

1. Qualified subjects: These were manifestly unregen- 
erate; not having heard of the existence of the Holy 
Spirit, therefore, not having been the subjects of His re- 
generating influence. 

2. They lacked a qualified administrator. They had 
not been baptized by John the Baptist himself since 
John closed his ministry, some twenty or twenty-five 
years before this. 

3. If, by one of John's disciples, he was not authorized 
to administer John's baptism John was not authorized to 
commission any one to administer his baptism. His bap- 
tism commenced and ended with his ministry. He was 
to decrease, and therefore no one was to continue his 



* In the Peshito Syriac this is the reading: "We have not so 
much as heard if a Holy Ghost exists." 



46 John's baptism. 

ministry, nor was John authorized to commission any 
one of his disciples to baptize. 

We learn (1) that though the subject profess his faith, 
and that most sincerely and concientiously, and is sat- 
isfied with his baptism as those twelve men were, yet if 
his faith is not a scriptural faith, his baptism is a nullity. 

We learn (2) that persons who, through misinstruction 
or misapprehension, have been immersed before they 
receive the renewing of the Holy Ghost, are most cer- 
tainly entitled to receive Christian baptism, when such 
have experienced satisfactory evidence of a change of 
heart. Receiving correct instruction they believed and 
were baptized, and, thus doing, they set an example for 
all who have received irregular baptisms to follow. 

All can see that the immersion of these men does not 
reflect in the least upon John^s baptism. They evidently 
were not baptized by John, but by some of John's disci- 
ples some twenty years after John's baptism ceased, and 
had long been superseded by the ministry of Christ. 

We think the context clearly indicated by whom they 
were immersed. 

Apollos, a Jew of Alexandria, a disciple of John, 
a zealous and eloquent man, knowing nothing but the 
baptism of John — labored about here mightily, con- 
vincing the Jews from the scriptures that Jesus was the 
Christ, but not with a perfect knowledge of what he 
should preach, for Aquila and Priscilla took him unto 
them, and expounded unto him the way of the Lord more 
perfectly, but a silence right here carries a convincing 
argument v/ith it. It does not say they required him to 
be rebaptized, which they would have done if John's 
baptism had not been Christian and valid baptism. Ile^ 



John's baptism. 4T 

doubtless, received his baptism from John himself, but 
he could have received no authority to baptize others, 
for John had no right to give such authority. Pie is au- 
thority on this : " I must decrease.^^ In this age ail 
such authority is vested in Churches of Christ. Their 
official ministers — ordained ministers — are their official 
servants. 

This example was given for our instruction. Immer- 
sions, lacking any one of these four essential elements,, 
should be repeated. 



K 



•48 John's baptism. 



CHAPTER YI. 

John's ministry not an intermediate dispensa- 
tion. 

Dr. Summer's treatment of John's baptism amazes me ! 

In his book on Baptism, that has been published and 
adopted as a text-book on Baptism by the Methodist 
Church South, and placed in the course of study of all 
the candidates of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, 
he vehemently denies that John's baptism was Chris- 
tian any more than was circumcision — that it belonged 
to the Legal or Jewish Dispensation, and that John 
baptized, or washed Christ to induct him into His priestly 
office, as the reader will see in the last chapter ; but ere 
the ink had time to dry on his page, as though disgusted 
or alarmed at the results of this position, as well he 
might be, he tells us frankly that it did not belong to the 
Jewish or the Christian Dispensation, but to a Johnic — 
an independent Intermediate Dispensation ; that it 
sustained no more relation to Christian baptism than 
a preliminary relation. As Justin Martyr says, ^^ It was 
a prelude to the grace of the Gospel Evangelical gra- 
ratice prceludium/^ or, in the language of Augustine^ it 
was ^' aforo^unning baptism" — precursorium ministerium. 
^^ It was/' says Chrysostom, ^^ as it were a bridge which 
made away from the baptism of the Jews to that of our 
Savior. It was superior to the former, but inferior to 
the latter." 



John's baptism. 49 

" Christian baptism was not instituted until after the resur- 
rection of Christ. Its subjects are baptized in or to the 
name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy 
Ghost, which was not the case with the subjects of John's 
baptism.'^ 

Dr. Summers wrote some strange things in his book, 
but what could he write more strange than this ? " John's 
ministry belonged to the Jewish Dispensation f and on 
another, before the ink was dried, '^ it belonged to 
neither the Jewish nor the Christian, but to one distinct 
from either — therefore, a Johnic order.'' 

The strange mystery of this is, how it could have 
belonged to the Jewish Dispensation, to a separate 
intermediate dispensation, or be a separate and inde- 
pendent dispensation belonging to neither the Jewish 
nor the Christian, and at the same time being an inde- 
pendent, an intermediate Dispensation ! 

Will the rising ministry of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church accept this as logical? 

He clearly enough confesses his reason for annihi- 
lating the force of John's baptism : " Those who con- 
tend for immersion as the exclusive mode of baptism 
lay great stress upon the fact that John the Baptist ad- 
ministered the ordinance in the Jordan and at Enon, 
where there is much water. Why did he repair to such 
places if it was not to immerse his proselytes." To this 
we reply : If it could be proved that John baptized by 
immersion, and that Jesus Himself was immersed, this 
would not prove that the Christian ordinance must be 
administered by immersion. 

[We shall attend to this later on.] 

Since our young ministers will have to meet those of 



50 John's baptism. 

the Methodist Episcopal Church, thoroughly indoctrin- 
ated with Dr. Summer^s Johnic and Bridge Dispensa- 
tions, I will examine it briefly here. 

JOHi^ THE baptist's MINISTRY DID NOT BELONG TO A 
JOHNIC OR INTERMEDIATE DISPENSATION. 

Christ said that by the mouth of two or three wit- 
nesses every word shall be established. 

To establish every word of my negation above I shall 
introduce only three witnesses : 

1. The Holy Spirit declares that the ministry of 
John was the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
the Son of God (Mark i, 1). 

" The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the 
Son of God ; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I 
send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare 
thy way before thee.'' 

If it was the beginning of the Gospel Dispensation, 
it certainly could not be of a Johnic or of an interme- 
diate one, not connected Avith the gospel of the Son of God. 
. My second witness is Christ who testified. 

"The Law and the Prophets were until John: since 
which time the kingdom of heaven is preached." 

With John's first sermon, or message, the kingdom of 
heaven — the gospel of Christ — was preached, and com- 
menced — the Christian and not 

The Johnic Dispensation, began. 

My third witness is : 

John the Baptist himself. 

" I must decrease." 

John fully understood his mission — not to foretell 
the coming of their Messiah and King, or of His 



John's baptism. 51 

Tiingdom soon to come, but to announce the presence 
of both King and kingdom. " Repent ye, for the 
kingdom foretold by prophets long centuries (Dan. 
ii. 42) ago was present, and their long expected King 
was present. Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven has 
approached. The verb translated '^ is at hand ^^ is in the 
perfect tense. John knew his work was done, and from 
that hour he must decrease in followers and disciples, 
and that ere Jong he would disappear from the sight of 
men and be forgotten. My reader, if but commonly intel- 
ligent, must know if John^s ministry had been a perma- 
nent one, although intermediate, every day would have 
increased the number of his disciples. 

John's ministry possessed all the essential elements 
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He preached all the 
vital doctrines preached by Christ and his apostles. 

The Gospel as Preached by John. The Gospel Preached by Christ be- 

" Kepent ye, for the kingdom M^ i^e BesuiTection. 

of heaven is at hand." 

To the sinners around him : " Repent ye, for the kingdom 

" Bring forth the fruits meet for of heaven is at hand." 

rej^e/i^arice." Paul testified to the u^^ ^^^^ heareth mv word, 

fact that John preached the two and beheveth in Him that sent 

vital doctrmes of the gospel. j^g, hath everlasting life." 

John verily baptized with u a i ^/r im!^. j ^i 

the baptism of repentance, say- ^"^.^^ .¥''^^'^, F^^^ ''P *^® 

ing unto the people that they serpent m the wilderness, even 

should believe on Him who wa"s ^^ must the Son of man be lifted 

to come after Him- that is, on ?P= ^^^' whosoever beheveth in 

Christ Jesus. Him should not perish, but have 



"Behold, the Lamb of God, 
who taketh away the sin of the 
world." 

"He that beheveth on the 
Son hath everlasting life. 

"But he that beheveth not 
the Son shall not see life, but the 
wrath of God abideth on him." 



eternal life." ( Johniii, 14, 15.) 



52 John's baptism. 

It is admitted that the apostles and Christy after 
His resurrection, preached the gospel ; therefore John 
preached the gospel. Things equal to the same things 
are equal to each other. 

If one is gospel, so is the other. 

The gospel is salvation through faith in Christ. 

It is held by some that the gospel was not proclaimed 
or taught before the resurrection of Christ. Here is 
what the Holy Spirit, through Paul, declared to be the 
gospel that was preached by Him and the apostles con- 
cerning the vital doctrines of salvatioj^ and justifi- 
cation by faith after the 7'esurrection of Christ. 

" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.^' 

— Christ. 

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we 
have access into this grace whereon we stand. " By 
grace are ye saved through faith and that [i. e., salva- 
tion] is not of yourselves ; it [the salvation] is not of 
yourselves, it is the gift of God.^^ — Paul. 

Therefore, it \_salvation~\ is of faith, that it might be 
by grace to the end, the promise might be sure to all the 
seed By the deeds of law no flesh shall be justified in 
His sight. 

"Repent and be baptized, and ye shall receive the gift 
of the Holy Spirit." (Acts ii.) 

" Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?" 

" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be 
saved.'' — Paul. 

Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with 
God. " By grace are ye saved, and that [salvation] is. 
not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God." — Paul. 



John's baptism. 53" 

^y faith we have access into this grace. 

The vital doctrine taught equally by Paul and Christ 
and John was salvation by grace, through faith in Christ 
Jesus. Let the reader decide if John did not preach the 
gospel Paul preached after the resurrection of Christ. 
If he did not, it is morally certain that no one else has^ 



-54 John's baptism. 



CHAPTER yil. 

PKOPOSITION : THE BAPTISM OF JOHN BELONGED TO THE 
CHRISTIAN, OR GOSPEL, DISPENSATION. 

It is eminently proper in entering upon the discussion 
of a proposition to clearly define the principal terms 
used in the discussion, in order to clear it of all am- 
biguity. 

The principal terms that will be used in this are Gos- 
pel, Christian, Dispensation. 

DEFINITIONS. 

Dispensation — A period of time, more or less distinct 
in the development of the redemptive economy, marked 
by some peculiar phase in the revelation of God's will 
and worship to the race. 

THE DISPENSATIONS. 

Theologians variously designate the Dispensations as : 

The Adamic : from the Creation to Noah. 

The JSToachic : from Noah to Abraham. 

The Patriarchal : from Abraham to 

The Legal or Mosaic : from the Exodus to John the 
Baptist. 

The Christian or Gentile : from the First to the Sec- 
ond Advent. 

The Millennial or Messianic : from the Second Advent 
to the Judgment. 



John's baptism. 55 

The Sabbatic : from the Judgment to the new Earth. 

Pertaining to Christ. 
Appointed by Christ. 
Taught by Christ, 
Exampled by Christ. 
As Christian Baptism. 
A Christain Grace. 



Christian 



The plan of Salvation. 
Any doctrine essential to it. 

Gospel good news of salvation.. } ^s Repentance and Faith, are 

gospel doctrines. 
Justification by faith, a vital doc- 
trine. 

It is granted that it must have belonged to one of 
three Dispensations — the Jewish, the Johnic, or the 
Christian. 

FIEST PROOF. 

I have demonstrated that it did not belong to the Jew- 
ish, Johnic, or an Intermediate Dispensation. 

Therefore it must have belonged to the Christian or 
Oentile Dispensation. 

I would not be understood, when I characterize the 
present as the Gospel or Christian Dispensation, that 
the Gospel of the Son of God, the self-same gospel Christ 
and His apostles preached for man's salvation, was not 
preached and clearly made known in the Adamic and 
every subsequent Dispensation. It was preached to our 
first parents, all the race, in the garden. 

Abel was saved by it. It was preached by faithful 
Noah, for one hundred and twenty years, to the ante- 
diluvians before the flood, and to his three sons, and by 



56 John's baptism. 

them to all future nations of which they were the pro- 
genitors. It was preached to Abraham^ to the saving of 
his soul,^ and through his descendants to the whole 
Jewish nation unto the coming of Christ and the intro- 
duction of the Christian — or, I think it more properly 
should be called the Gentile — Dispensation. Because 
the gospel was more exclusively preached to the Jewish 
nation, and it was made the conservator of God's laws 
and covenants. From the exodus to the advent of Christ 
and the bringing in of the Gospel Dispensation to the 
Gentiles, the period was called the Jewish Dispensation. 
And because, since the advent of Christ, the Jews have 
been passed by, and the gospel is being preached almost 
exclusively to the Gentiles, and will be until the last 
nation has heard it, it is called the Gentile Dispensation. 
Still, in all these dispensations, whatever special bless- 
ings God may have bestowed upon, or withheld from, 
this or that nation. He has been no respepter of perso7is.f 
This is Peter's testimony : 

" Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of 
persons : but in every nation he that feareth Him, and 
worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him. The word 
Avhich God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching 
peace by Jesus Christ : (He is Lord of all :) that word, I 
say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, 
and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John 
preached." 

Notice this passage particularly: The same gospel 
that was preached by John, and before the death of 

* Was it not all preached to him ? Would a part of the gospel 
have saved him ? 

t Through the Jews the nations learned much of their God and 
their religion. 



John's baptism. 57 

Christ and His apostles, was preached to the children of 
Israel. 

Because — and I regret to say it — not a few of our own 
people have of late joined voice with the Campbellites, 
and in the West quite a number of our prominent min- 
isters, in teaching the people that the gospel was not 
preached : that not an accent of it ever fell from the lips of 
God's prophets, or of John, or of Jesus Christ, or was 
preached or penned by the evangelists before the days of 
Pentecost — not until after the resurrection of Christ, I 
say, because of this new heresy, I will be excused for 
giving some space in thoroughly disposing of it here. 

Not only are such sentiments obtaining lodgement 
among some of our people, but, not long since, Mr. 
Moody, before one of his congregations, remarked that 
he had been relieved of a severe fit of the " blues '' 
brought on by the very meager frijits of a long meeting.. 
He said it was from the fact that old N^oah preached 
and toiled, wept and prayed, for one hundred and twenty 
years, and never made one convert!! Was Mr. Moody 
comforted by a. fact or a fiction f 

There are three important questions that should be 
settled here: noi^Bcmsi^adt 

DID NOT NOAH PREACH THE GOSPEL? 

DID HE NOT MAKE A CONVERT? /i^/^^ 

DOES PRISON MEAN HELL-OR A PMDEB 0!E^ PUN- 
ISHMENT? .-d1 :^^chn'y>(\ 

The denomination mentioned above saysHo to thefilrst 
two; for there was no gospel to preach- i?<j]^d^h'^ day.; 
nor a sentence of the gospel ever uttered until after ChHst 
arose from the dead. -.^j >> ^^.^^^, juj/i a£ .It Ijlhi 

Let us test the truth of this b)f)tb# ^aipli^it'Ltdadiin^ 
of the Holy Spirit. r j J - -- r 



58 John's baptism. 

" And the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify 
the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel 
unto Abraham ^^ There is but one gospel, and this was 
made known by Christ to Abraham, and he believed it 
to the saving of his soul. 

The gospel was preached or made known to Abel, and 
he was saved by believing it, and justified, which he 
could not have been had he not heard and believed it. 

It is universally believed that Noah preached to the 
antediluvians while the ark was preparing — one hundred 
and twenty years. And in this same passage we learn 
that some, and doubtless very many, were saved, and if 
so, it was by the gospel. He preached the gospel. 

All of God's true prophets and priests preached the 
same gospel for the salvation of the Jews that Christ 
and His apostles preached after Christ arose from the 
dead ; and the essential features of it were that remission 
of sins, justification and salvation come alone through 
faith in Christ Jesus. This is the testimony of Peter, at 
the house of Cornelius, the first Gentile convert : 

" To Him [Christ] gave all the prophets witness that 
in His name whosoever believeth on Him shall receive 
the remission of sins.'' 

Every true minister of God in past ages preached this 
for the gospel, and every true minister in this age 
preaches this for the gospel, and every true minister of 
Christ, in all the ages to come, will preach this for the 
gospel; for there never has been but one gospel, there 
is but one, and there never will be but one true gospel ; 
and if, as Paul says, " we, or an angel from heaven, preach 
any other gospel unto you than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed.^* 



ii; 



John's baptism. 59 

^^ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that 
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel : 
which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, 
and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though 
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel 
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, 
let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now 
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than 
that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I 
now persuade men, or God ? or do I seek to please men ? 
for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of 
Christ.^' 

This is the gospel Paul preached. 

" To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness : that 
he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth 
in Jesus. Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By 
what law ? of works ? Nay ; but by the law of faith. 
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith 
without deeds of law. Is he the God of the Jews only ? 
is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles 
also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the cir- 
cumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 
Do we then make void the law through faith? God 
forbid : yea, we establish the law. 

" What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as 
pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham 
were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory ; but 
not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abra- 
ham believed God, and it was counted unto him for 
righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward 
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that 
worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the 
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as 
David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto 
whom God imputeth righteousness without works, say- 
ing, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven^ and 
whose sins are covered,^' 



60 John's baptism. 

No one will assert that baptism is not a deed of law. 
Kitualists are free to call it the law of pardon. To say, 
then, that no one can receive the remission of sins and 
justification without baptism, affirms, contrary to PauFs 
teachings, that man says without a deed of law no one 
can be justified, which would be another gospel that 
would not be the gospel. Let all such be condemned. 

But the questions : Did not Noah preach the gospel, 
and were there not persons, possibly multitudes, saved by 
the gospel he preached ? and did not Christ, before His 
resurrection, preach to the spirits of those saved by 
Noah's preaching before He rose from the dead. 

Did not Noah preach the gospel to the antediluvians f 
Were there not many saved f Did not Christ preach to 
them be/ore His resurrection? 

[I Peter iii: 18-20.] 

" For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just 
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being 
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit : 
by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in 
prison ; which sometime were disobedient, when once 
the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, 
while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight 
souls were saved by water." 

I know of no worse translated or interpreted passage- 
in the New Testament. It has suffered in both these re- 
spects, in order to take it out of the hands of the Papists, 
who press it into the service of purgatory. We present 
the following as the literal translation : 

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just 
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put 
to death in the flesh, but alive in the Spirit ; in which 



John's baptism. 61 

He went and preached to the souls of men in safe keep- 
ing [or Paradise], who sometime were disobedient, when 
once the long suffering of God waited in the days of 
Noah, while the ark was building.'^ 

Touching the translation, we quote, with approbation 
the remarks of Bishop Horsely : 

^' The Spirit, in these English words, seems to be put, 
not for the soul of Christ, but for the Divine Spirit; 
and the sense seems to be that Christ, after He was put 
to death, was raised to life again by the Holy Spirit. 
But this, though it be the sense of the English transla- 
tion, and a true proposition, is certainly not in the sense 
of the apostle's words. It is of great importance to 
remark, though it may seem a grammatical nicety, that 
the prepositions, in either branch of this clause, have 
been supplied by the translators, and are not in the orig- 
inal. The words ^ flesh' and ^spirit,' in the original, 
stand without any preposition, in that case which, in the 
Greek language, without any preposition, is the case 
either of the cause or instrument by which, of the time 
when, of the place where, of the part in which, of the 
manner how, or of the respect in which, according to the 
exigence of the context; and, to any one who will con- 
sider the original with critical accuracy, it will be ob- 
vious, from the perfect antithesis of these two clauses 
concerning flesh and spirit, that if the word ^ spirit ' de- 
note the active cause by which Christ was restored to 
life, which must be supposed by them who xmderstand 
the word of the Holy Ghost, the word ^ flesh ' must 
equally denote the active cause by which He was put to 
death, which therefore must have been the flesh of His 
own body — an interpretation too manifestly absurd to be 
admitted. But if the word ' flesh ' denote, as it most 
evidently does, the part in which death took effect upon 
Him,* spirit ' must denote the part in which life was pre- 
served in Him — that is. His own soul; and the word 
^quickened' is often applied to signify, not the resusci- 



62 John's baptism. 

tation of life extinguished, but the preservation and 
continuance of life subsisting. The exact rendering, 
therefore, of the apostle's words would be, ^ being put 
to cleath in the flesh, but quick in the spirit' — that is» 
surviving in His soul the stroke of death which His body 
had sustained — ^ by which,' or rather^ in which' — that 
is, in which surviving soul — ^ He went and preached to 
the souls of men in prison, or in safe-keeping.'" 

^^ The spirits preached to " are expressly affirmed to be 
those ^^ which sometime vv^ere disobedient" in the davs 
of Noah, when " the long suflfering of God waited " for 
them. 

This word '^ sometimes " is the same word that Paul 
uses when he said to the Ephesians (ii, 13), ^^ye who 
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of 
Christ ;" and again to Titus (iii, 3): ^' We ourselves were 
sometime foolish, disobedient," etc., but now are " made 
heirs according to the hope of eternal life." 

It being thus declared that they were sometime disobe- 
dient, would imply, then, that they were disobedient 
only for a time — that being during the period '' when 
once the long suffering of God waited in the days of 
Noah." 

The ''long siiffering^^ which then waited, is the same 
Greek word that Peter uses Avhen he accounts* " that 
the long suffering of our Lord is salvation ;" and which 
Paul used when he wrote,f '' Despisest thou the riches 
of His goodness, and forbearance, and long suffering , not 
knowing that the goodness of God leadeth them to re- 
pentance." Peter also says J that '' the Lord is long 
suffering tousward, not willing that any should perish, 

* II Eph. iii, 15. tRom. ii, 4. t II Pet. ii, — . 



John's baptism. GS"' 

but that all should come to repentance.'' The long suf- 
fering of God, therefore, in the days of Noah, was to give 
opportunity for repentance to the disobedient. 

The word rendered '^ waited '' occurs in the New Tes- 
tament only in seven other places, as follows : John v, 3 : 
^^ Waiting for the moving of the water;'' Acts xvii, 16 : 
" AVhile Paul waited for them;" I Cor. xi, 33 : " Tarry 
one for another ;" xvi, 11 : "I look for him ;" Heb. 
X, 13: ^^ Expecting till his enemies;" xi, 10: ^'He looked 
for a city ;" James v, 7 : " The husbandmen waiteth/^ etc. 

The Greek word is defined by Kobinson as meaning 
" to receive from any quarter ;" or in the New Testament, 
inchoately, to be about to receive from any quarter — i. e.,. 
to wait for, to look for, to expect. 

The import of the passage, then, would be that those 
in prison that Christ preached to were those for whom 
the long suffering of God, in the time of Noah, waited 
in expectation that they would become heirs of salvation, 
which God would not have done unless they were to be- 
come such ; and that they did so become is intimated by 
the remark that they were ^^ sometime disobedient" — 
i. e., that they did not thus continue, but were recovered 
from their disobedient condition. 

is there not reason, then, to hope that a portion of those 
w^ho sat under Noah's preaching repented and became 
subjects of grace ? For one hundred and twenty years did 
the long suffering of God thus wait ; and would it have 
thus expected if there were to be no results conformable 
to the expectation ? It is not necessary to suppose that 
all who heard Noah died in hardened impenitence. 

What, then, became of those subjects of God's wait- 
ing salvation ? God's purpose to remove the race, and 



•64 John's baptism. 

io repeople the earth, did not demand that more than 
Noah and his family should survive the flood, any more 
than it did that more than a pair of each kind of bird 
and animal should survive. The one hundred and 
twenty years, then, gave time for the removal of all who 
believed before the waters came upon them. Even 
Methuselah died only a year before the flood ; and so 
many have died, all who were only ^' disobedient ^' during 
that " waiting of God's long suffering.^' Thus, merciful 
men are taken away, none considering that the righteous 
are taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter 
into peace ; they shall rest in their beds, each one walk- 
ing in his uprightness. 

As the ark was designed to save only the family of 
Noah, with animals of each kind, God would remove 
those who did not continue disobedient, before the evil 
of the coming flood should come on them. 

The word rendered " prison '^ in the text, is the same 
that is rendered ^^ watch '' in Matt, xxiv, 43 : ^' In what 
watch the thief would come ;'' and it is defined by Rob- 
ertson as a " watch on guard.'' A person thus under 
watch or guard may be said to be guarded, or in prison. 
The word is also used to denote a watch-post, station ; 
and is thus used by the Seventy in Hab. ii, 1 : "I will 
stand upon my watch," etc. By the spirits being in 
prison, therefore, it is not necessary to understand that 
they were culprits, but that they were in safe-keeping 
[Paradise], until the day of their final resurrection.* 

* The English word " prison," as Lord Coke observes, " was only 
.a place of safe custody ; but now, by a change of use, we use it only 
in its bad sense — as a place of degrading confinement — which has 
•obscured the sense of the passage." 



John's baptism. 65 

The term " Paradise ^^ implies the idea of being guard- 
ed — safely kept — as well as that of a high degree of en- 
joyment arising from the associations and beauties of the 
place. It was introduced into the Greek by Xenophou, 
who derived it from the Persians. The Persian Para- 
dise was a large plot of ground (park), surrounded by 
a high wall, to protect its occupants from molestation 
from enemies, or wild beasts from without. This park 
was adorned with everything to contribute to delight the 
senses, and used as a place of rest and relaxation from 
anxiety, and toil, and of positive enjoyment. 

Here the king, with his family and invited friends, 
would resort at stated times, throwing off all cares of 
state, to give themselves up to rest and pleasure. The 
Paradise was so securely guarded that they had no fears 
from the assaults of enemies or attacks of wild beasts. 
The intermediate state is beautifully represented as a 
Paradise, where the saints rest, safely guarded from the 
assaults of Satan and his angels who infest this world, 
and tempted and annoyed them here. There, " where 
the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at 
rest,'^ they enjoy the frequent visitations of the Savior — 
.so frequent that it could be said of them, they were with 
Christ — and the associations of all the holy and the 
good — patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs — who, 
with them, wait for the redemption of their bodies at the 
second coming of Christ. 

While the spirits to which Christ preached are thus 
designated as those who were sometime disobedient, 
when God^s long suffering waited for their conversion 
during the building of the ark, and which, because they 
xiid not continue disobedient, are now in safe keeping, 



66 John's baptism. 

as they were at the time when Peter wrote, it remains to- 
be considered : When did Christ in spirit go and preach 
to them, and what was the purpose of his preaching? 

In answer to this, it will be noticed that Peter does 
not say that Christ preached to them when^ but that he 
preached to those who were thus sometime disobedient ; 
but when he went and preached to them they were 
^' spirits in prison." The place of the departed is some- 
times referred to as a prison, from which the righteous 
are to be delivered. While it is gain for them to die — 
far better than to continue here — yet their condition in 
hades (Paradise) must be one of unfinished happiness, 
and consisting principally in rest, security and hope, and 
not in full participation of the portion which is to be 
given only at the resurrection. Had not sin entered the 
w^orld their full fruition of hope would have been par- 
ticipated in without the entrance into and rest in hades 
(Paradise). And the death and resurrection of Christ 
will result in the removal from thence of those who are 
in safe-keeping, and their resurrection to that exalted 
condition which would have been attained without death 
had there been no sin. Thus we read in Hosea xiii, 14: 
" I will ransom them from the power of sheol, I will 
redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues ; 
O sheol, I will be thy destruction !" And Paul, quoting 
this (I Cor. XV, 55), exclaims, ^^ O death, where is thy 
5ting ? O hades, where is thy victory ?" In Rev. xxx, 14 :. 
^' Death," the last enemy of the redeemed, with ^^hades,^'^ 
their intermediate abode, is to be cast into the lake of fire.. 
Job speaks of "the bars of sheol" (xvii, 16); and Hez- 
ekialj said : " I shall go to the gates of sheol,"* but God 

* Isa. xxxviii, 10. 



John's baptism. 67 

•'^ hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bands of 
iron in sunder.^'* He will say ^' to the prisoners, go forth ; 
and to them that are in darkness '^ [in the invisible or 
unseen] ^^ show yourselves/' and then '^ they shall feed 
in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high 
places. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall 
the heat nor sun smite them ; for He that hath mercy on 
them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall 
he guide them.^'f 

The only " prison '' in which those sometime disobe- 
dient but repentant spirits are, must be sheol or hades, 
which Christ will destroy, and from which He will ran- 
som them ; and to have gone and preached to the spirits 
in prison. He must have entered the place of the de- 
parted, and preached to them there — when He went 
with the thief to Paradise on the day of their crucifixion. 
And this is not only in harmony with Peter's words, but 
is the precise sense expressed by them ; for he makes 
the preaching to have been while He was in the condi- 
tion resulting from His '^ being put to death in the flesh, 
but quickened in the spirit, hy which/^ or rather as Bishop 
Horsely remarks, in which '^ He went and preached unto 
the spirits in prison,'' who were formerly circumstanced 
as is afterward described — that is, while dead in the 
flesh, but alive in spirit. He went in spirit and preached 
to the spirits, who were ^^ prisoners of hope," and were 
looking for a future enlargement and deliverance. 

By a perversion of this passage the Papists make this 
text subserve their views of purgatory ; and hence others, 
to avoid that error, have gone to the opposite extreme 
and denied that the departed were thus favored, as Peter 

* Psalms vii, 16. t Isa. xlix, 9, 10. 



68 John's baptism. 

affirms. This involves a consideration of the kind of 
preaching appropriate to those to whom the Savior 
preached. 

As they were only ^' sometime ^^ disobedient, they must 
have been brought to repentance and faith in a coming 
deliverer before they died ; therefore the Savior could 
not, when He went into hades, have preached faith and 
repentance to them — the preaching of which, also, would 
have been of no avail to the impenitent, the eternal con- 
dition of all being determined by the present life. And 
this overturns the Papal dogma of purgatory. These 
spirits had repented during life, or they would not have 
been in that part of the unseen where the Savior was; 
and the end of His preaching could not have been to any 
immediate deliverance from hades; for ^^they without 
us will not be made perfect.'' The preaching of Christ 
to them, then, was the proclamation, announcement or 
publication to them (for such is the meaning of the word 
*^ preach") of the great fact that He had died for their 
sins, and should rise again for their justification. As 
the souls of the martyrs are represented, under the fifth 
seal,* as anxiously inquiring, '' How long, O Lord, holy 
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on 
them that dwell on the earth," so we may know that the 
pious departed are not uninterested expectants of future 
deliverance ; and nothing could have given greater joy 
to the spirits in Paradise than the entrance of Christ, 
when His flesh was consigned to the tomb, and the an- 
nouncement to them of the " glad tidings " that He had 
actually offered the sacrifice of their redemption, and 
was about to appear in the Father's presence for repent- 

* Kev. vi, 10. 



John's baptism. 69' 

ant disobedients. This was an announcement fit to be 
made to the spirits of the just ; and it could not fail to 
give new joy and animation to them to learn that what, 
not improbably, Moses and Elias had already proclaimed 
to them as about to he done, was already accomplished, 
and the consummation of their future happiness fully 
provided for. 

There is a single difficulty which should be noticed in 
this connection, viz : Why are the souls of the repentant 
antediluvians singled out as the subjects of the Savior's 
preaching ? Were not those of later ages equally inter- 
ested in the message ? These considerations are perti- 
nent, and yet by no means do they affect the time or 
subjects of Christ's preaching. That He preached to 
them is affirmed, but that He thus preached to all the 
departed just is also probable. Peter intimates as much 
in verse six of the next chapter, when he says : " For this 
cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead^ 
that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, 
but live according to God in the spirit.'' The same is 
thus rendered in Dr. Murdock's version of the Syriac : 
^^For on this account the announcement is made also to 
the dead, and they may be judged as persons in the fleshy 
and may live according to God in the spirit." And 
when was this announcement made to them, except as 
the Syriac has it, when " He died in body, but lived in 
spirit ; and He preached to those souls, which were guarded 
in Paradise, which were formerly disobedient in the days- 
of Noah," etc. Those who are especially named, then^ 
do not constitute all to whom the announcement was made ; 
but they seem to be named as those who were the most 
unlikely to receive such announcement — it being gener- 



70 John's baptism. 

ally supposed that none were saved under Noah's preach- 
ing — and if it was made to them, it was also made to 
others who were to be equally the subjects of the future 
resurrection of the just. 

That this is no new interpretation, may be seen by the 
following. Thus Dr. Horsely says : 

^' The expression ^ sometime were ' or ' one while, had 
been disobedient/ implies that they were recovered from 
that disobedience, and, before their death, had been 
brought to repentance and faith in the Redeemer to come, 
to such souls He went and preached. But what did He 
preach to departed souls, and what could be the end of 
His preaching ? Certainly He preached neither repentance 
nor faith ; for the preaching of either comes too late to 
the departed soul. These souls had believed and repent- 
ed, or they had not been in that part of the nether regions 
which the soul of the Redeemer visited. But if He went 
to proclaim to them (and to proclaim or publish is the 
irue sense of the words ^to preach') the glad tidings that 
He had actually offered the sacrifice .of redemption, and 
was about to appear before the Father as an intercessor 
in the merit of His own blood, this was a preaching fit to 
be addressed to departed souls.'' {Sermons, page 262.) 

And Bishop Hobart adds : 

" 'Christ went/ says the apostle, 'and preached to the 
spirits in prison,' to spirits in safe keeping, ' to the some- 
time disobedient,' but finally penitent antediluvians, 'in 
the days of Noah,' who, though they were swept oif in 
the deluge of waters, found, through the merits of the 
Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, a ref- 
uge. While His body was reposing in the grave, He 
went in his spirit and ' preached' — or, as the word sig- 
nifies, proclaimed — the glad tidings to the souls of the 
departed saints of that victory over death which the Mes- 
siah, in whom they trusted, was to achieve ; and of that 
final redemption of the body and resurrection to glory, 



John's baptism. 71 

the hope of which constituted their enjoyment in the 
place of the departed.'' (State of the Dead, jjp. 7, 8.) 

If we would successfully meet the Papists, we must 
take this position ; for to deny the plain teaching of the 
original is to play into their hands. 
6 



v= 



72 John's baptism. 



CHAPTER YIII. 
PKOPOSiTioN: John's baptism belonged to the 

CMKISTIAN DISPENSATION. 
FIRST PROOF. 

It is admitted that it belonged to the Jewish Dispen- 
sation, or 

To the. Johnic or an Intermediate Dispensation. 

I have demonstrated that it did not belong to either 
the first or the intermediate. Therefore it must have 
belonged to the Christian Dispensation. 

SECOND PROOF. 

The New Testament commences with the gospel and 
ministry of John, and each evangelist commences his 
history of the Christian Dispensation with the ministry 
and Baptism of John, and inweaves the baptism and min- 
istry of Christ and his apostles with it — showing us that 
they were contemporaneous and identical. This of itself 
should be sufficient to settle the question. 

Pedobaptist Testimony in Favor of John^s Baptism, 

Dr. Whitby says : 

" The history of John the Baptist is styled the begin- 
ning of the gospel, because he began his office by preach- 
ing repentance, as the preparation to receive it, and faith 
in the Messiah, as the object of it.'' 

Lightfoot says : 

'^Mark calls the ministry and baptism of John the 
beginning of the gospel." 



John's baptism. 73 

Dr. Scott says : 

" This was, in fact, the beginning of the gospel — the 
introduction of the New Testament dispensation." 

Mr. Henry says : 

** In John's preaching and baptizing there was the be- 
ginning of the gospel doctrines and ordinancesJ^ 

In the success of John's preaching, and the disciple 
he admitted by baptism, there was the beginning of a 
gospel church. 

Dr. Adam Clark says : 

" It is with the utmost propriety that Mark begins the 
gospel dispensation by the preaching of John the Baptist." 

Mr. Wesley says : 

" The evangelist [Mark] speaks with strict propriety, 
for the beginning of the gospel is in the account of John 
the Baptist." 

Bloomfield says : 

" I would adopt the mode of taking the passage pro- 
posed by Erasmus, Zeger, Markland, and Fritz. The 
sense thus arising is excellent; for that from the preach- 
ing of John arose the commencement of the gospel, is 
certain from Luke xvi, 16." 

Again : ^^ The Jews must have understood the cere- 
mony as significant of a change of religion, and of intro- 
duction into a dispensation different from that of Moses.^^ 
— Remarks on John's Baptism, Matt, iii, 6. 

Dr. Knapp, Professor of Theology in the University 
of Halle, in his Christian Theology, which is, I believe, 
a standard work in all our Theological Schools, though a 
Pedobaptist, says (p. 485) : 

"Was the baptism of John different from Christian 
baptism? Many theologians of the Romish Church for- 
merly maintained that there is a difference, but Protest- 



74 John's baptism. 

ants usually take the opposite side, although some, espe- 
cially the more modern ones, have again adopted the for- 
mer opinion. [This means Dr. Summers.] 

'^ 1. The object of John's baptism was the same with 
that of Christian. 

'^ 2. The practice of the first Christian Church con- 
firms the point that the baptism of John was considered 
essentially the same with Christian baptism." 

Those who wish to take this ground with Catholics 
can do so — but Baptists, never ! 

THIRD PROOF. 

A man or men sent by Christ personally to preach and 
baptize, as were the seventy disciples and twelve apostles, 
were unquestionably Christian ministers, and their min- 
istry a Christian ministry. 

John the Baptist v/as sent directly and by Christ him- 
self, as well as by God, and therefore he was a Christian 
minister and his ministry a Christian ministry. 

FOURTH PROOF. 

John was sent by Christ both to preach and baptize f 

Therefore he was a Christian minister; not one of the 
apostles was more so. He was commissioned by the self- 
same authority to bear witness of the same persons. To 
the apostles Christ said: "And ye shall be witnesses 
unto me. Go teach all nations, baptizing them.'' 

Of John the Baptist it was said : 

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the Light 
that all men might believe. He was not that Light, but 
was sent to bear witness of that Light. His testimony : 
*^ Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin 



John's baptism. 75 

of the world. He that believeth the Son hath eternal 
life. He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth 
on him.^' 

FIFTH PROOF. 

While John baptized all the first disciples, all the 
members of the first Church — the seventy missionaries 
and the twelve apostles — there is not the slightest inti- 
mation that his baptism was ever repeated, which, if it 
had been unchristian or invalid, it doubtless would have 
been in every instance. An unchristian baptism is no 
baptism, and Christ himself was not baptized if John's 
baptism was invalid. 

But the Holy Spirit declares that He was baptized. 
Who will deny it, and charge Him with falsehood? 

SIXTH PROOF. 

The apostles recognized the baptism of John and his 
ministry as belonging to the gospel economy, when they 
consulted for candidates to the apostolic office. Read 
Acts i, 21, 22 : ^' Wherefore of these men who have com- 
panied with us all the time that the Lord went in and out 
among us, beginning from the baptism of John/' etc. They 
considered, unless they began with John's ministry, they 
would not cover all the period of Christ's ministry — His 
prophetic week. 

What stronger proof than this can be adduced? The 
entire membership of the first Church, embracing as it 
did, at this time, all the apostles themselves, considered 
that John's ministry was a part of the gospel dispensa- 
tion. They proceeded upon the fact, the one chosen 
could not witness to all that ministry of Christ unless he 
could begin with the ministry of John the Baptist. 



76 John's baptism. 

seventh proof. 

There is no intimation of any one of John's disciples, 
one whom John baptized, either being ineligible to office 
because of such baptism, or having been reimmersed be- 
cause of this fact. There is one such instance of re- 
baptism claimed, and there is one case where re-baptism 
would have been demanded had the apostles, indeed the 
entire Church at Jerusalem, decided that John's was 
not Christian. 

EIGHTH PROOF. 

That no one was eligible to be elected to the apostle- 
ship unless baptized by John. 

The history of the Election 'of Mathias is proof: 

'^ Wherefore of these men which have companied with 
us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out 
among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto 
that same day that he was taken up from us, must one 
be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. 
And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was 
surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and 
said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, 
shew whether of these two thou hast chosen. That he 
may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from 
which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to 
his own place. And they gave forth their lots ; and the 
lots fell upon Matthias ; and he was numbered with the 
eleven apostles." 

From this election we learn that no one was eligible 
to the apostolic office except a disciple of John the Bap- 
tist, and therefore baptized by John, for he received none 
as his disciples unless baptized by him, and that upon a 
personal profession of repentance — upon a confession of 
sin and faith on the coming Christ. 



John's baptism. 77 

ninth proof. 

That John's baptism was Christian. 

Not an instance can be found in the New Testament 
where a disciple of John — 07ie undoubtedly baptized by 
him — was re-baptized. Therefore it was indoi-sed by 
Christy by His apostles, and by His churches for one 
hundred years as valid, because, like their own, it was 
Christian. 

Would Christ have chosen His apostles and the sev- 
enty missionaries of His gospel to the Jews from those 
who were the rejectors of the counsel of God against 
themselves, and were therefore His enemies — would 
Christ have chosen ministers to go out and exhort men 
to repent, believe and be baptized, who had not them- 
selves believed and been baptized — men living in open 
disobedience of the very gospel they preached? 

Between the two lids of the New Testament we find 
no shade of doubt cast upon the Christian character of 
John's baptism. 

TENTH PROOF. 

John's ministry of three and a-half years is included 
in that of Christ's — making the prophetic week of Daniel. 
Dr. Prideaux' Prophetical and Mathematical Argument. 

I now produce a positive and conclusive argument 
from prophecy, which settles the question forever — a 
mathematical calculation which must stop the mouth of 
the infidel himself. It is Dr. Prideaux' Argument : 

The three and a-half years of John's ministry are 
included in the prophetic week of Christ's ministry, in 
which he confirmed his covenant. (See Daniel ix, 25-27.) 
For a mathematical demonstration of this argument see 
Prideaux' Connexions, pp. 392-394. 



78 . John's baptism. 

Thus we see that DanieFs vision concerning the Mes- 
siah can be explained in no other way than by maintain- 
ing that John's ministry Avas — as Mark declares — the 
beginning of the gospel, and, of course, a part of the 
Christian Dispensation. 

Here, then, the position that Baptists alone, of all de- 
nominations, hold and teach, is susceptible of mathemati- 
cal demonstration. " And he [Christ] shall confirm the 
covenant with many for 07ie week ^^ — i. e., for seven years. 
Now, I call upon the man who denies the Christian char- 
acter of John's baptism to show how this prophecy can 
be fulfilled or explained without adding John's ministry 
to that of Messiah's? Christ confirmed the covenant 
through John, as his servant, for three and a-half years, 
and then personally three and a-half years, which, to- 
gether, make the prophetic week — i. e., seven years. 

ELEVENTH PEOOF. 

Paul sets the matter forever at rest (I Cor. xii, 13, 14). 
The eleven apostles and hundreds of the brethren had 
been baptized by John before Christ^s resurrection, and 
Paul by Ananias after, and yet he declares that there 
is no diiference between them. 

" For by [in] one spirit are we all baptized into one 
body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, and whether 
we be bond or free ; and have all been made to drink 
into one spirit.'' 

As modern Pedobaptists contend that this passage 
alludes to spiritual baptism, I add a critical note from 
Bloomfield's Greek Testament : '' Kai gar en heni Pneu- 
matic etc. [for in one spirit]. Most recent foreign com- 
mentators [like modern Pedobaptists, to avoid the 



John's baptism. 7^ 

Baptist argument] understand this of the communi- 
cation of Charismata — the baptism of the Holy Ghost 
— and to this the epistheemen is not unsuitable, while 
the sense arising is specious I But this method re- 
quires en Pneuma to be read in the place of eis en 
Pn., etc., and then yields a sense not so natural as 
that arising from the interpretation adopted by al- 
most all commentators, ancient and modern, wlio 
here suppose an allusion to the two sacraments. By 
being baptized [say they] we are all made members of 
the body of Christ, and united one to another under 
Him, our head; and thus, whether we be Jews or Gen- 
tiles, bond or free, we are all one in Christ, who by bap- 
tism have been admitted into His Church, etc. Agree- 
able to this I have given the other Greek reading — 
i. e., spirit; implying the same disposition of mind, in_ 
which, as little children, we received the kingdom, and 
were baptized into it instead of Spirit — implying the 
Holy Spirit." 

The discussions in several of our denominational pa- 
pers and magazines, a few years since, awakened consid- 
erable interest in the proper interpretation of this pas- 
sage. Several of our newspaper exegetes took sides with 
Pedobaptists in maintaining that the phrase, ^' the Body 
of Christ," referred to the '' Church Universal," or '^ the 
Spiritual Church," or ^^the Invisible Church," includ- 
ing all the saved in heaven or on the earth. 

Not in the spirit of controversy do I bring forward this 
passage and the testimony of Paul to prove my proposition 
that the baptism that Christ received at the hands of John, 
and that which all the apostles and all the early Chris- 
tians received, were equally valid, because Christian. 



-80 John's baptism. 

I will be allowed to recapitulate a few of the argu- 
ments I used in opposing the Invisible-Spiritual-Churcli 
theory of interpreting this passage. My reasons were 
several : 

1. There are nor ever were any such bodies in the 
universe. They are only conceptional existences, not real. 
To speak of all the churches in a state or nation as the 
Church, is to speak figuratively. 

" Body '^ here, then does not refer to the Church Uni- 
versal or the Church Spiritual and Invisible, or the 
Church including all the saved in the past, or in all time 
to come, whether on earth or in heaven; because there 
is no such Church. These are conceptions, nonentities — 
figures of speech only. To speak of all the Baptist 
churches in Tennessee as the Baptist Church of Ten- 
nessee, is to use figurative language, for there is no such 
Church — never was and never can be. " Church,'' as 
used here, is a figure called synecdoche — where a part is 
put for the whole — the singular for the plural. To 
write the Church of Christ, or of God, so to say, we use 
this figure. To say the churches of Christ, or of God, we 
speak literally. "Body '' implies an organism; the In- 
visible Church is not an organism. 

The advocates of the Invisible Church are consist- 
ent in saying that the baptism is figurative and invisible, 
and of course the subjects must be invisible also ! ! There 
is but one real Church as an institution. It is a single, 
visible body, that can assemble all its members in one 
place, and transact five or six distinct items of business, 
and among these items baptize and celebrate the Lord's 
Supper, receive and exclude members, elect its pastor 
and officers, etc. 



John's baptism. 81 

The essential element of a Church is its absolute sov- 
ereignty under Christ. Its two central ideas are to 
believe and to do. 'No other Church can do this. 

The Church Universal, or " the Church Spiritual '^ and 
Invisible, never did assemble in one place, and has no 
baptism or supper, or ordinances^ or constitution, or cov- 
enant. 

2. NO ONE EVER WAS, OR CAN BE, BAP- 
TIZED INTO IT; AND IF THE BAPTISM HERE 
IS THAT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, PAUL DID 
NOT TELL THE TRUTH WHEN PIE SAID '' WE 
ALL/' ALLUDING TO HIMSELF AND THE 
MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH AT CORINTH; 
FOR NEITHER PAUL NOR THOSE BRETHREN 
HAD BEEN BAPTIZED WLTH OR LN THE 
HOLY GHOST, AND IN FIRE!! Only tv/ice was 
this baptism ever administered, and but very a few per- 
sons ever received it. There is but one real and literal 
baptism. ^' There is one Lord, one faith, and one bap- 
tism,^^ says this same Paul ; and if this is Holy Ghost 
baptism, as some teach, then water baptism is abolished. 
If this " one baptism," in Ephesians, refers to water bap- 
tism, then the '' one body " here is Christ's real, literal, 
local Church, and this closes discussion since. 

3. There is but one body in heaven or on earth that 
we can be baptized into, and that is this local, visible 
organization of baptized believers in Christ Jesus our 
Lord.* 



* " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not 
enter into the kingdom of God." John iii, 5. 

" And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be 
saved." Acts ii, 47. We were all baptized into the same body — a 
local Church — wherever we may have been baptized. 



82 John's baptism. 

4. A local Church meets all the requirements of the* 
passage, and all its connections evidently refer to a local 
Church, while a Church Universal and Invisible, com- 
posed of all the finally saved, does not meet any of its 
requirements; and let it be borne in mind that such a 
Church is not a body, an assembly, an organism, but a 
conception — a figure of speech — where a part of it is put 
for the whole. 

TWELFTH PROOF. 

This baptism must refer to the real ^^one baptism'* in 
water, not to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It can not 
refer to the Holy Spirit, for neither the Apostle Paul nor 
the members of the Church at Corinth — only the twelve 
apostles and Cornelius, and those he" had gathered to 
hear Peter, ever received what is called baptism in the 
Holy Ghost; and, therefore, the passage was not ap- 
plicable to Paul and the Corinthians. It must refer to 
the one baptism — water. It must refer to a figurative 
or literal, real Church. It can not be an Invisible 
Church, for no one believes that any one was ever bap- 
tized into that — for that is entered only by regeneration. 
It must refer to a literal and earthly church. The pas- 
sage, then, supports my position. 

Understand the ^^ body of Christ *' here to refer to a 
local church, and it meets all the requirements of the 
passage and its connections — Paul's beautiful compari- 
son of the human body and its members, and the local 
church and its members; but to understand it of a 
Church Invisible, it meets none of the requirements of 
the passage or comparison. 

The Holy Ghost never baptized any one into either 
the visible or an invisible church. Water baptism does 



John's baptism. 83 

add to a real visible church, and nothing else does. But 
an invisible administrator invisibly baptizing invisible 
subjects into an invisible church, sounds to me like visible 
nonsense. Can my reader for one moment think that the 
Holy Spirit ever taught that Paul and all the Christians 
of his age were immersed into a Conception ! A huge 
FiGUEE OF Speech ? ! ? Let Pedobaptists teach thus, if 
they will, to avoid the teachings of the Holy Spirit ; but 
Baptists never. 



84 John's baptism. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH ON TRIAL BY JOHN^S 

BAPTISM. 

The day had been well-nigh worn out in vindicating^ 
the Christian character of John's baptism, and refuting 
the many objections Pedobaptists and Campbellites 
urge against it, when these words came into my mind as 
forcibly as though spoken into my ear : " I will return 
and discern between the righteous and the wicked, be- 
tween those who keep my words and ordinances, and 
those who make them of non-effect by their traditions.'^ 

These words recalled the promises of His return to 
this sin-cursed earth, and to Plis long- waiting and perse- 
cuted people, which brighten almost every page of His 
precious word. Then the question arose : " How can 
John's Baptism serve as a criterion of discernment be- 
tween His true and faithful churches and the multitude 
of human organizations claiming to be churches, that 
men have set up?" It at once occurred to me that 
when He did organize a Church He instituted in it a 
memorial supper and celebrated it with it, and com- 
manded His disciples, as they made disciples, to organ- 
ize other churches in all respects like unto it. He 
strictly enjoined upon them to perpetuate this memorial 
in remembrance of Himself until He should come again. 
And was not this equivalent to an express promise that 
He would return again in person ? And was it not 
equivalent to an assurance that he would find a Church, 



John's baptism. 85* 

or churches, in all essential characteristics like this 
which He himself set up as the divine pattern of all 
future ones, that would be organized by His faithful 
ministers whom He commanded to observe and do all 
things whatsover He had commanded them ? Must we 
not undoubtingly believe this when, with the solemn 
injunction to do this [observe the supper] in remem- 
brance we take along two other promises, viz : " Lo, I 
am with you [as a Church] always/' And this : ^^ The 
gates of hell [all the powers of evil] shall not prevail 
against you/' 

For His churches, or any one of them, to keep this 
supper as a Church — and in no other way can it be kept 
until He comes again — His churches, or at least one of 
them, must have a continuous existence ; however op- 
posed, must not have been prevailed against, and how- 
ever grievously or long cast down, not destroyed. 

These seemed to my mind irresistible conclusions. 
The scene of my reverie changed. I found myself walk- 
ing up Adams Street until my attention was arrested by 
the presence of a man upon the opposite sidewalk in- 
tently gazing upon the St. Peter's Cathedral. His coun- 
tenance was remarkably comely, prepossessing and 
striking, and there was something in his form approach- 
ing the- majestic being — ^^ perfect in stature," as the 
sculptor would say. 

One of the sextons, observing his movements, ap- 
proached and thus addressed him : ^^ You seem to be a 
stranger in our city. Is there anything in which I can 
serve you — it will be a pleasure to me." The stranger 
replied : '' I came to your city yesterday, and, expect- 
ing to remain some time, I am looking for a Christian 



86 John's baptism. 

Church, that I may unite with it as a member." " You 
have fortunately come to the right place. The Church 
you are looking upon is that Church of our Lord Jesus 
Christ that our Lord said He would build on St. Peter, 
and that He promised St. Peter the gates of hell should 
not prevail against. Its very name is proof of this. If 
you notice, carved in the stone, over the door, ' THE 
HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH,' which of itself means 
there exists no other true and Holy Catholic or general 
Church, save this, on the earth. The bjshop himself is 
in his room within, and I will be pleased to take you in 
and introduce you to his reverence." 

^' Certainly," said the stranger, and followed the ur- 
bane sexton in, and was introduced to a solemn-faced 
man, in white robes and bands, as a man who wished to 
be united to a true Christian Church. The bishop bowed 
a gracious assent, smiles irradiating eyery feature of his 
face. 

^' You will pause here for a moment," said he, " and I 
will soon prepare a bowl of fresh holy water for your 
baptism." 

*' I will save you all that trouble," said the stranger ; 
" I have been truly baptized by John the Baptist, and 
I am perfectly satisfied with it. Can you not receive me 
into your Church upon it?" 

The bishop drew back with a significant shrug of his 
shoulders. 

" Ah, that is not good baptism with the Church at all. 
She does not esteem the ministry of John the Baptist as 
belonging to the Christian Dispensation. He preached 
and baptized before the Holy Church of St. Peter was 
established, and before that time there was no true 



John's baptism. 87 

Church or proper Christian ordinances at all. Y^ou see 
our reason/^ 

The stranger quietly addressed the bishop : 

^' May I ask you a few questions about this matter, for 
your consideration ?'' 

'^Most certainly, for your very much needed informa- 
tion. I will be pleased to answer." 

^' Do you believe there can be a Church of Christ 
without baptism?" 

" No ; most certainly not, or salvation either." 

'^ Do you believe there can be true priests of Christ 
without true baptism and true consecration ?" 

" No, sir. The Holy Mother Church most zealously 
and truly holds there can be no true priests outside of 
her pale, and no Irue or saving baptism, unless adminis- 
tered by her priests ; and, therefore, my friend, allow me 
to baptize you ; and to make your salvation certain, allow 
me to baptize you now. We only ask your assent to 
two facts — i. e.y that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, 
and the Roman Catholic Church His only true Church, 
to whose traditions you Avill assent." 

" Answer me another question, that I may know 
whether you are authorized to baptize me — whether you 
can, according to the teachings of your own Church, 
administer true saving baptism or not." 

"I assure you, sir, I can show you my ordination 
papers and priestly credentials, if it be those you want, 
sealed with the very seal of St. Peter, which has been 
transmitted to us directly from him." 

" No, sir, I do not wish to see tliem^ but to learn from 
you if they are not fraudulent impositions upon the 

people, according to your answers to me just now. You 

7 



88 John's baptism. 

have said that, according to the infallible teachings of 
your Church, there can be no true Church or true priests 
without a true baptism. AVill you please tell me who 
Avas the first bishop or pope of your Church V^ 

"■ Certainly ; it is not denied by us that St. Peter was 
its head and founder.^^ 

'^ And was he ever baptized V 

'^ Most undoubtedly he was.'' 

" Bv whom ?" 

^^ By — by " — (hesitatingly) — '^ the Church unanimously 
holds — by John — the — Baptist, sir"." 

" You have a little since told me, for my much- 
needed information, that John's baptism was not Chris- 
tian, and you would not receive me into your Church 
upon it, and, to be consistent, you would not receive the 
Savior upon it. Your Church, as you call it, is therefore 
no Church, for Peter was neither baptized nor ordained. 
You have just taught me that he was no real and true 
priest, and Catholic priests are therefore not true priests, 
and therefore can not administer true and saving i:)ap- 
tism; therefore, by your own admission, you are all un- 
baptized and lost ! and you are trying to impose a spuri- 
ous and fraudulent Church upon me." (Kising to go.) 
'^ Good evening, sir. You should give this information 
to all men, and so should all the true and faithful min- 
isters and witnesses of Christ." 

The stranger quietly withdrew from the room, leaving 
the bishop in a daze of thought, forgetful of his usual 
courtesy of accompanying his visitors to the door and 
bowing them adieu with one of his blandest smiles that 
seldom failed to captivate his visitors. 



John's baptism. 89 



CHAPTEK X. 

THE EPISCOPAL. CHURCH TRIED BY JOHN^S BAPTISM. 

I followed the stranger as he passed up the street and 
entered the edifice that stands conspicuously upon the 
corner of Adams and Main Streets. He was in earnest 
conversation with the priest (I supposed, for he was in 
priestly uniform). I was in time to hear him say (for the 
priest met him near the entrance, and they had taken 
seats, and I was kindly invited to be seated): 

" I came not to interrupt your studies, but I am sin- 
cerely in search of a Church of Christ, wishing to unite 
with such a body. This is a churchly edifice, and your 
dress indicates that you profess to be a priest, and, 
doubtless, minister to the religious body worshiping 
here, and claiming to be a Church of Christ. Am I right ?'^ 

"Altogether right. You have found it, notwithstand 
ing it is surrounded by so many false claimants. Why, 
sir, from the very steps of this edifice you can see three 
church buildings, and the steeples of as many more ; but 
they are not churches save in name — they are sects — dis- 
senters — counterfeits of the one true Church. This 
church bears the name of the very Mount on which our 
blessed Lord was crucified ; and as that mount bore the 
cross and the bleeding sacrifice of our redemption, so 
does this Church bear up before the eyes of a perishing 
world the divine sacrifice for its salvation. Most cheer- 
fully Avould this Church welcome you to its sacred bosom.'' 
(As the priest said this he seemed earnestly surveying the 



90 John's baptism. 

manly form and expressive countenance which bespoke 
him no ordinary person, and he seemed to catch inspira- 
tion from the survey, when saying " most cheerfully '' 
would that Church welcome him to her sacred bosom, 
and administer to him the holy sacraments of salvation.) 
The priest continuing: "-Not only is Calvary the scrip- 
tural or divine name of this Church ; ^ Calvary ' is its 
scriptural or divine name, but 'Protestant Episcopal' 
is her historic or human name, and she is the eldest and 
best beloved daughter of the Holy Mother Roman 
Catholic Church, which was founded on St. Peter by the 
authority of Christ himself. I have said that we will 
most cheerfully receive your profession of our faith : 
would you prefer to profess at your baptism the Atha- 
nasian or Nicene Creed — there is but a trifling differ- 
ence between them, and we accept the profession of 
either. If you wish, I can give you a copy of each to 
examine, and (it seems a pleasing providence) next Sab- 
bath the bishop will conduct the services of the day, and 
baptize and confirm several, and you can receive both 
sacraments from his holy hands. Will not this arrange- 
ment be pleasing to you ?" 

"As for your creeds I am perfectly familiar with both, 
and as for baptism it can be dispensed with, as I have 
been truly baptized by John the Baptist. '^ 

" I regret that one so intelligent, as I take you to be, 
should have been so deceived as to have received John's 
baptism for Christian. While our Church, the Protestant 
Episcopal, has never questioned, as some do, the act 
which Christ received at the hands of John ; but as it 
was to induct him into his priesthood as a washing of 
consecration, it was not Christian baptism for our exam- 



John's baptism. 91 

pie any more than was his circumcision. Our Church 
declines to receive it as a gospel ordinance. 

The stranger quietly remarked : 

" I care not to discuss the design of John's baptism 
with you, but have you not overlooked the fact that by 
discrediting John's baptism you have virtually unbap- 
tized yourself, and your bishop also, by whom you have 
tried to persuade me to be baptized ? Do you believe 
that an unbaptized man, or priest, can administer valid 
baptism ?'' 

" By no means ; the act would be little less than blas- 
phemy — sacrilegious, to say the least of it. But how 
have I unbaptized myself by my own reasoning*?'' 

^^ Did you not say that your Church was the eldest and 
best-beloved daughter of the ^ Holy Catholic Church, 
built by St. Peter.' " 

" Yes, so His Holiness the Pope was wont to call her." 

'' Was Peter ever baptized ? And if so, by whom ?" 

^' Most assuredly. Why should you ask such a ques- 
tion ? It is evident enough that he was baptized by 
John the Baptist, and so ^ the Church teaches.' " 

" You have said that John did not administer Chris- 
tian baptism, and therefore you decline to receive me as 
baptized. If I am unbaptized, Peter was also ; and 
you furthermore truly declared that an unbaptized 
man could not admininister Christian baptism ; therefore 
the priests of the Catholic Church, including His Holi- 
ness the Pope, are all unbaptized and unsaved. And, 
more than this, all the baptisms and ordinations of your 
Church are invalid ; for you do not believe that unbap- 
tized priests can ordain — do you ?" 

Certainly not : a priest must have been duly bap- 



<i 



92 John's baptism. 

tized and ordained to be qualified to ordain or admin- 
ister sacraments.'' 

"The bishop you proposed should baptize and con- 
firm me is neither baptized nor ordained, and has no 
more authority to baptize than the sexton that sweeps 
this house — is not this so?'' 

" Indeed your reasoning seems faultless. I see no 
fallacy in it. If Peter was not truly baptized, the popes, 
priests and people of that Church were never baptized, 
and those baptized by the priests of that Church are in 
the same condition, and they can not give true baptism 
to others, for it is evident we can not give what we have 
not ourselves — Christian baptism. This quite astounds 
me, I confess." 

" There is another sequence," remarked the stranger. 
*' Your Church borrowed its Ritual from its Mother 
Church, which teaches that baptism and the Lord's Sap- 
per are means of saving grace — sacraments of salvation — 
without which no one can be saved ; and, if this be true, 
all those the Catholic and your own Church have pro- 
fessed to baptize are lost ! for they have believed and 
trusted for their salvation on what you have taught, and 
you have taught them falsehoods" 

'* This is a new line of thought to me," said the priest. 
"It must be these considerations that influenced the 
E.ev. Mr. Noel, who was Chaplain to the Queen, to say 
that he had never thoroughly examined the subject ot 
baptism — not the act merely, but all the bearings of it ; 
and, when he did, he could officiate no longer as a priest 
of the Church of England, which planted ours — the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in America — and he never 
did officiate as an Episcopal priest again. I shall lay 



John's baptism. 93 

this matter before my bishop next Sabbath, and he must 
relieve my present doubts or ^^ 

" Allow me to suggest/^ said the stranger, " that you 
lay the matter before your God, and in much prayer for 
light and wisdom, and read the New Testament that He 
has given to enlighten and guide you, and ask Him for 
the grace of boldness and faithfulness, so that when you 
have learned your duty, to do it. You have not obeyed 
his command to believe and be baptized ^^ 

" Excuse me ; I was baptized by my Christian 
parents.'' 

'' Do you know it ?'' 

"Assuredly, I have their testimony and the Baptismal 
Register of the Church — these are undoubted evidences.'' 

" But did you obey ? What did you believe ? You 
had no consciousness ? Did you obey when they bap- 
tized you ? You had no will in the matter — to do or not 
to do — to consent or dissent ; and where these are not, 
there can be neither obedience nor disobedience. Obedi- 
ence is essential to — is the very essence of — baptism. Let 
the act be pouring, sprinkling, or moistening, as in your 
case, doubtless, or immersion, it is nothing without obe- 
dience on the part of the subject. It must hear the 
command — it must know who commands it, and will to 
do it, from a proper motive and for a proper purpose^ or it 
is no baptism. Unless you obeyed, you are unbaptized." 

"You admit that the act that Christ received was 
immersion. Did not Christ command His ministers to 
administer the same act to those they baptized ?" 

"Yes, doubtless, since He expressed it by the same 
term — baptizoJ^ 

"How, then, can you pour a few drops of water, or 



94 John's BAPTisii. 

lay your moistened hand^ upon the forehead of babe or 
adult, a:id say, ^ I baptize thee in the name (i. e., by the 
authority) of the Blessed Trinity?' Would your act and 
that of John be the same? You say, in the name of the 
Trinity, that they are V 

So great had become the unrestfulness of the priest 
that the stranger arose and bade him good evening, say- 
ing, ^^ I leave you to your reflections and the Word of 
God and prayer. These will lead you into all truth, but 
not those who are groping in the same darkness with 
yourself 



John's baptism. 95- 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE CAMPBELLITE SOCIETY TRIED BY JOHN's BAPTISM.. 

I next saw the stranger standing before a double-tow- 
ered edifice, on Linden street, intently considering a 
name graved deep in the transom rock over the front 

door, 

"the christian church." 

I overheard him say, in soft surprise, " Here again is 
the name of what I am seeking ; and if this is not the 
organization, it is the sinful naming of it to deceive the 
people.'' 

While in these meditations he was accosted by a man 
of a pleasant face : ^^ You seem to be a stranger in search 
of some place. It will be a pleasure to me to serve you.'' 

" I have been informed,'' said the stranger, " that 
Christ has a Church in this city, and I am in search of 
it, that I may unite with it." 

" I am delighted to inform you," said the pleasant 
man, who proved to be the sexton, ^^ that the Church 
you seek worships in this edifice, as you see by the 
name in the transom rock, and the pastor is now in his 
study for the purpose of receiving visitors, and I will 
be pleased to introduce you to him, and the friend who 
is with you." 

The stranger accepted his invitation, and I was glad 
to do so, for I had become wonderfully interested in 
the, to me, singularly strange man. He pleasantly intro- 
duced himself and his mission. The pastor, with earn- 



"96 John's baptism. 

€stness of manner, assured him that he believed that not 
only fortunately but providentially — by divine direc- 
tion — his wandering footsteps had been directed to the 
door of Christ's own and only Church. 

" Tliere are/' said the pastor, "three facts that seem to 
me should convince every intelligent Bible reader that 
this Church is justly entitled to the name you saw en- 
graved over its door. One of these facts is this : 

" Ours is a new and a God-given name. By the mouth 
of His prophets God foretold that He v/ould give His 
Church a name that no other people ever had — that it 
should be a neio name ; and He told them what the name 
should be, so that there need be no mistake, and all His 
people could and should unite together on the one 
name. Christ promised to write upon His Church a 
new name, and that should be His own name — Christ- 
i-an. 

" Another fact is, we do not invite you to subscribe to 
a creed J but to accept the Bible alone. We ask all Chris- 
tians to unite with us on the Bible — not on some creed 
that a Calvin, a Luther, or a Wesley has made, but on 
^ The Word."' 

" And the third fact is, we baptize with the scriptural 
design of baptism — i. e.^for the remission of sins; i. <:., in 
order to obtain the remission of sins; while other denom- 
inations baptize for — they know not what. If you are 
a Christian man, you can not object to uniting with us 
upon the Bible?'' 

" Certainly not upon the New Testament, in His blood, 
correctly translated and construed according to the rules 
of the language in which it was given to the race ; but 
Jiot u2:)on your construction of the Word." 



John's baptism. 97 

'^^ Here is water/' pointing to the baptistery under the 
pulpit ; ^^ allow me to baptize you now, for life is short, 
and uncertain our lease of it ; make your salvation sure, 
for I doubt not you accept as true what God has revealed 
of His Son by the pens of the evangelists, which is the 
faith our Church requires; and you promise to turn from 
your sins to God — which is repentance — and be baptized ; 
for the remission of them are the three steps to remission 
and salvation — 

Faith, Repentance, and Baptism..'^ 

" I can save you this trouble, for I was baptized by 
John the Baptist, and am satisfied. It is valid with your 
Church, is it not?" 

'^ By no means. We do not regard any doctrine or 
institution as Christian that was preached or instituted 
before the resurrection of Christ.^' 

'^But you have just now announced a doctrine which 
is the cardinal doctrine of your Church — viz : baptism 
for (in the sense of ^in order to') the remission of sins; 
that, in its true and proper sense, was preached by John 
the Baptist, and it is, therefore, unchristian ! Baptism 
is a rite instituted before the death of Christ, and is, 
therefore, not a Christian ordinance. 

" What you have advanced is all strange to me, espe- 
cially touching your ^ God-given name.' Will you refer 
me to the prophecy and that promise ?" 

" Certainly ; for that is another thing that is charac- 
teristic of us as a people. We go to the Word, we appeal 
to the Word. You will find the prophecy in Isaiah 
Ixii, 1-6, and the promise in Bev. iii. I will read it to 
you." 

" You may open your Bible and see if I do not quote 



98 John's baptism. 

it correctly/' said the stranger, and commenced repeat- 
ing : 

" ^ For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for 
Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness 
thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof 
as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy 
righteousness, and all kings thy glory : and thou shalt be 
called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord 
shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in 
the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of 
thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ; 
neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate : but 
thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah : 
for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be 
married. 

^^ For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shalt thy 
sons marry thee : and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over 
the bride, so shalt thy God rejoice over thee. I have set 
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall 
never hold their peace day nor night : ye that make 
mention of the Lord, keep not silence.' " 

^' This prophecy has no conceivable reference to a 
Church, much less to Mr. Campbell's disciples, but to 
a city, and not to any city whatsoever, but to one partic- 
ular city — the city of Jerusalem. It does not read, 
^ Thou, the Church ' Mr. A. Campbell called out, shalt 
be called by a new name. Thou shalt no more be called 
Campbellite, but thou shalt be called ^The Christian 
Church.' It, the Word, does not read thus, but, ' Thou, 
Jerusalem, shall be called by a new name, which the 
mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou, Jerusalem, shalt 
no more be called 'Forsaken/ neither thy land ^ Deso- 
late.' But, ^ Thou, Jerusalem/ a city and not a Church, 
' Shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah.' And 



John's baptism. 99 

this new name — He tells when this new name is to be 
given . Not in this age, but after Christ's second coming — 
not until after the Jews, both Judah and Israel, have 
been gathered and returned to Palestine, their now de- 
serted land ; and when the city of Jerusalem, the now 
forsaken city, shall have been rebuilt and repeopled, 
will it be called Hephzibah, and be a crown of glory in 
the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of 
thy God.'' 

" If your Church believes your claim of a God-given 
name, that makes you a glory among the denominations 
and a royal diadem in the hand of the Lord, why have 
you not taken upon you your God-given name — why did 
you not engrave on the rock, over the door of your edi- 
fice. The Hephzibah Church, instead of the Christian 
Church ?" 

^' Let us examine the ^ promise ' of Christ himself that 
He would write His own new name upon you, which He 
makes it your duty to wear and to be called by. The 
passage you referred to reads, ^ Him that overcometh will 
I make a pillar in the house of my God, and He shall 
no more go out, and I will vmte upon him my new 
name ' — not upon Mr. Campbell, or upon a society he 
might gather, for there is not the slightest reference to 
a Church but to each faithful member, the disciple who 
overcomes ; and He tells when He will confer this dis- 
tinguishing honor. It is not until He comes again, and 
brings His rewards with Him in the next dispensation. 
I say, again, if Mr. Campbell believed what you have told 
me, why did he not assume the name ? But he declared 
that his society had no claim to be distinguished by the 
name The Christian Church." (See Appendix A?) 



100 John's baptism. 

^^ I can not restrain myself from believing that you have 
been designedly or ignorantly attempting to deceive me 
by presuming upon my ignorance and credulity in 
quoting to me scriptures you certainly knew, or must 
have known if you ever read them, had no conceiva- 
ble reference to a Church, to persuade me that Christ 
had specially marked out your Society as His own 
Church, and that He himself had written upon it His 
own new name — C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n — and had made it the 
duty of every Christian to join it, unless he would incur 
the sin of rejecting Him by refusing to join your Society 
and being called by your name — the Christian Church — 
and thus opposing the union He so earnestly prayed 
for in His last prayer ? I must be plain with you. It 
looks to me like a flagrant imposition upon the unread- 
ing and unthinking people to beguile them into your 
Society under the impression that they are uniting wath a 
Scriptural Church. Let us turn to that passage in Acts 
where you say Christ called them Christians at Aii- 
tioch. We find that the Holy Spirit called the brethren 
disciples, but the heathen idolaters called them Chris- 
tians — a term of reproach — a nickname !^^^ 

BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS. 

*^ You requested me to allow you to baptize me, ' in 
order to the remission of my sins,' — virtually, that is, to 
obtain salvation, since none can be saved until their sins 
are remitted ; but I do not find this in the ' Word ' — i. e., 
^ in order to.' Can you point me tothe passage?" 

" Not to the tvords, but substantially to the same idea." 

^' I do not think you can, to either the words or the 
/f^ea." 

* See Appendix A. 



John's baptism. 101 

*' Mark tells us that John the Baptist did preach the 
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.^' 

'^ But you have stricken that doctrine from the category 
of Christian doctrines, since it was preached and prac- 
ticed before the death of Christ, and you have thus de- 
molished the vital doctrine of your Church. Let me 
call your attention to the fact that it was the baptism of, 
belonging to repentance, that John preached ; and there- 
fore repentance must have preceded baptism/' 

" ' For,' used either as a conjunction or a preposition 
here, the sentence will be grammatically correct, but not 
doctrinally true — i, e., not in accord with the general 
teachings of the ^ Word,' or of Peter elsewhere. > 

" The particle ' for,' as you should know, is doubly 
ambiguous, and can be used either as a causal conjunc- 
tion in the sense of ^ because of,' ^ in consideration of,' 
^in testimony of (Mark i, 44), in ^ proof of;' or as a 
preposition, with thirty-one different shades of meaning, 
as Mn order to,' ^in order to obtain.' 

^' We must therefore decide the doctrinal sense in which 
Peter used it here. Did he mean for his hearers, who were 
JeiDs/^ to understand him to mean that they must be bap- 
tized in order to be saved, to obtain the remission of 
their sins? or in acknowledgment of the fact, as Jesus 
commanded the leper v/hom He had healed^ ^ Go shew 
thyself to the priest, and offer the gift for thy cleansing 
that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them' 

*■ Mr. Carapbell and his followers claim that they were men of 
fourteen different heathen nations, while the "Word" tells us dis- 
tinctly that they were Jews. " And there were dwelling at Jerusa- 
lem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven " (Acts:. 
ii, 5). 



102 John's baptism. 

{Matt, viii, 4). Here Christ used ' for/ not in order 
to obtain, for they had obtained, but ^ in proof of/ ' in 
testimony of/ with which idea the Jews were familiar. 

" A few days after this, Peter went down to the house 
of Cornelius, a Koman Captain and a Gentile, and preached 
to his family and friends whom he had collected for the 
occasion ; and while he was preaching, the Holy Spirit 
fell upon them, as it did at Jerusalem, and they spake 
with tongues and glorified God. They were converted, 
Justified, saved, before Peter had said one word about 
water. But when he saw that it was with them as with the 
Jews at Jerusalem, he said, ^ Can any man forbid water, 
that these should not be baptized, who have received 
the Holy Spirit as well as we?' In both these cases 
baptism followed the remission of sins and salvation, as 
the invariable immediate effects of faith. If Peter had 
intended for the Jews at Pentecost to understand that 
they must be baptized in order to obtain the remission 
of their sins, they would have been baptized at once, to 
procure that effect ; but they were not baptized until 
-after they had believed, to the joy of their hearts, and 
had been justified and saved. The Lord added to the 
Church daily those who were saved (Am. Ver). Bap- 
tism is the adding act. The three thousand baptized 
on the day of Pentecost were saved persons, and their 
baptism was ^ for,' because of, in testimony of, this 
fact." 

If any one is in the least doubt as to Peter's prac- 
tice, consider his preaching and practice when preaching 
to the Gentiles. No one will be rash enough to say that 
he preached one way to the Jews and another to the 
Gentiles. Here we may formulate an invariable rule 



John's baptism. 103 

touching the relation of baptism to remission of sins and 
salvation. 

As, naturally and rationally, the cause precedes the 
effect, so, if baptism is the procuring cause of remis- 
sion of sins, justification and salvation, it will invariably 
'precede these effects, not only in the Jaci but in the 
record. 

Now, in all the instances of baptism recorded in the 
New Testament we find that the evidences of faith, justi- 
cation and regeneration preceding baptism, and we, there- 
fore find, in no case, is baptism, by faith or practice, 
taught as the cause of remission or salvation. 

Peter uttered one great, precious, vital truth in this 
sermon, and concerning the one only way to receive remis- 
sion of sins, not in connection with baptism, but faith in 
Christ only : 

" TO HIM [CHRIST] GAVE ALL THE PROPHETS 

WITNESS THAT IH HIS NAME ¥/HOSOEVEE 
BELIEYETH IN HIM SHALL RECEIVE THE RE- 
MISSION CF SINS." 

This is the unchangeable doctrine touching the remis- 
sion of sins. Every true minister of God who ever has 
preached, who is now preaching, or who ever will preach, 
will preach this self-same doctrine, and not baptism for 
the remission of sins. Since there is but one gospel — 
the same for the Gentiles as for the Jews — Paul says: 
'^ If we (the inspired apostles) , or an angel from heaven j 
preach to you another gospel than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed.'^ 

As this in the last time I shall ever talk with you, let 
me impress you with two undeniable facts touching the 
relation of baptism to the remission of sins. Invariably, 



104 * John's baptism. 

if baptism is in order to obtain the remission of sins, it 
is used as the procuring cause to that effect, and, as it is, 
naturally, rationally and logically, the cause must pre- 
cede the effect; baptism must, in the record as in fact, 
precede the remission of sins, justification and regenera- 
tion ; and wherever it follows as a sequence of these, /o?* 
is used in the sense of '' in proof of,^' ^^ in testimony of.'^ 
I will refer you to a few examples to substantiate the 
truth of these rules : 

1. John required the infallible evidences of regenera- 
tion in all cases before he baptized — Judas being an 
exception. 

2. The seventy disciples, under the eye of Christ, 
made disciples before they baptized them. 

3. The three thousand, on the day of Pentecost and 
the days following, baptized only those who gave evi- 
dence of regeneration, for *^ they gladly received the 
word,'^ an evidence of justification by faith. Therefore, 
being justified by faith, we have peace with God and joy 
in the Holy Ghost. And the same day there were bap- 
tized alyout three thousand souls. 

The Holy Spirit testifies, in the same connection, that 
these were saved before they were baptized. ^^ And the 
Lord added to the Church daily those who Avere saved ^^ — 
or " the saved.^' Baptism is the only Lord^s-appointed- 
Avay of adding to His Church ; for* says Paul : " In one 
spirit {i. e., of joyful obedience and submissive faith) were 
we (the apostles and all whom he addressed, as well as 
every Christian that should in after time read the epistle) 
all baptized into one body (a local church), and were all 

•■•■This as I have elsewhere shown. 



John's baptism. 105 

made to drink of one spirit." This can not refer to the 
^^ baptism in the Holy Ghost and in fire/' since neither 
Paul nor the Corinthian Christians had ever been bap- 
tized in the Holy Ghost, nor have we in this age. 

4. The Samaritans received the gospel as preached by 
Phillip, and not until they gave Phillip satisfactory evi- 
dence of regeneration were they baptized — with one 
exception (the Sorcerer). Not an instance is recorded in 
the IN'ew Testament where baptism was administered be- 
fore faith or evidence of justification. Christ in his last 
commission virtually commanded regeneration on the 
part of the subjects before baptism, for salvation is the 
immediate effect of faith. Those who baptize without 
the Bible evidence of regeneration or justification, openly 
and flagrantly violate the most solemn command of Christ, 
and teach others to believe and do so. 

See what He says of such. Offend means, here, to 
deceive, mislead. (Matt, xviii, 6) : 

'^ But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which 
believe in Me, it were better for him that a mill-stone 
were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned 
in the depth of the sea.'' 

Therefore baptism can not be a factor , means or con- 
dition of the remission of sins or salvation, but is ap- 
pointed to be the profession of salvation. 

No instance can be found in the acta of Christ or His 
apostles where it is intimated that baptism preceded 
pardon, justification, or regeneration, and therefore it 
can not be the law or means of the remission of sins. 

Christ healed the leper * and commanded him to go show 

* It is held by all Apologists that leprosy was a striking type of 
sin ; and how striking the analogy between gift and baptism ! 



106 John's baptism. 

himself to tlie priests, and offer /or his cleansing the gift 
Moses commanded ^for^ (in testimony of) his cleansing. 
Jesus here gives us the true sense of ^^for^^ — i. e., in tes- 
timony of what had been done — what he had received. 

THE CHANGE OF OBDEB. 

THE INVERSION OF THE ORDER OF GOSPEL DUTIES IS 
THE PERVERSION AND SUBVERSION OF THE GOSPEL, 
AND MAKES THE COMMANDMENTS OF CHRIST OF 
NON-EFFECT. 

The inversion of gospel duties works the perversion of the 
gospel. 

Pedobaptists invert the duties of the gospel by put- 
ting baptism, in the case of infants, before personal 
faith, and thereby destroy believers^ baptisms, thus mak- 
ing this commandment of Christ of non-effect by their 
tradition. 

You likewise invert the divine order by placing faith 
before repentance and baptism, and thus utterly pervert 
and make the gospel of non-effect by this tradition of 
your elders. 

The divine order of gospel duties is : Repentance, 
faith, and baptism. The first word of gospel message that 
fell from the lips of John the Baptist was, '' Repent ye." 

The first command that fell from the lips of Christ to 
sinners was, '' Repent ye^ 

To invert the divine order by placing faith before re- 
pentance, is to require a moral impossibility of the sinner. 

Christ said to the priests and Pharisees who were 
thirsting for His blood : " John the Baptist came unto 
you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him 



I 



John's baptism. 107 

not, but the publicans and harlots believed him; and ye^ 
when ye had seen it, repented not that ye might believe 
Him, 

The murderers of Christ, alarmed at the enormity of 
their guilt, cried out, " What must we do V^ The com- 
mand was, ^^ Repent." 

Paul, in recounting his labors at Ephesus, tells us the 
order in which he preached the gospel : 

" How I kept back nothing that was profitable unto 
you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, 
and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and 
also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith to- 
ward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts xx, 20, 21.) 

To change this divine order, and place baptism before 
faith and repentance, would not be preaching the gospel 
as Paul preached it, but would be perverting it and mak- 
ing it of non-effect, as Pedobaptists make the command 
of Christ to baptize believers of non-effect by placing 
baptism before faith. 

You deceive the people by your false definitions of 
most important terms. Faith you define to be but the 
consent of the mind to the testimony of the evangelists 
concerning Christ— a mere intellectual act. Demons 
believe and tremble, but their faith does not bring them 
to Christ. While the faith that saves, is the trust of a 
penitent heart upon Christ as its only and all-sufficient 
Savior. Repentance you define to be a reformation of 
life, without a profound, godly sorrow for sin against 
God. These vicious definitions render void the whole 
gospel. 

This condemnation he pronounces upon those who do 
not preach the gospel which he preached : '^ If we, or an 



108 John's baptism. 

angel from heaven, preach unto you another gospel than 
that which we have preached unto you, let him be ac- 
cursed.^^ Notice again how particularly Paul observed, 
this order : But showed first at Damascus and at Jeru- 
salem, and throughout all the coast of Judea, then to the 
Gentiles, that they should rejpent and turn to God, and 
'^do works meet for repentance.'' Here w^e have repent- 
ance before turning to God, and repentance assured by 
works that spring from it, before either faith or baptism ; 
and the reason is, no one could turn to God before he 
repented, any more than he can believe on Christ before 
he repented ; therefore Christ preached : " Repent ye,, 
and believe the gospel. '^ 

i IT IS A MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY FOB AN IMPENITENT 
SINNER TO EXERCISE FAITH ON CHRIST. 

Sinners must accept Christ as He offers Himself to 
them, to be saved by Him. He offers Himself to the 
race as the only and all-sufficient Savior of lost and sin- 
ruined men. ^' I came not to call the righteous" (in their 
own estimation), "but 'sinners, in their own self-con- 
sciousness, to 7'epe7itance.'^ The first moral emotion He 
calls upon them to exercise is, to " Repent." 

Mark His invitations: "Look unto Me and be ye 
saved, for I am God, and there is no Savior besides Me." 

" Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
his thoughts " (here is repentance toward God) : " and 
let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy 
upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly 
pardon." (Isaiah Iv, 7.) 

Here repentance precedes and prepares the way for 
faith. Christ says : " Look unto Me and be ye saved, 
for I am God, and besides Me there is no Savior." He 



John's baptism. 109 

presents Himself as the divine, only, and all-sufficient 
Savior to the lost and penitent sinner. Again : '^ Come 
unto Me, all ye thafc are weary (of sin) and heavy laden 
(with a sense of guilt), and I will give you rest" (rest to 
your soul). It is a penitent sinner that is addressed in 
these passages — one conscious of, and pressed under liis 
conscious guilt — that is invited to come to and look unto 
Christ for salvation. 

Now, upon such a Savior the sinner is exl\orted to be- 
lieve — i. e., to trust with all his heart, for it is wdth ihe 
lieart we believe unto righteousness. Abraham believed 
on God, confided in and trusted on Him for salvation, 
and his faith was accounted unto him for righteousness. 
An impenitent sinner coming to Christ for pardon, is a 
most absurd idea; or begging forgiveness for sins he is 
not sorry for committing — entreating for mercy and for- 
giveness for iniquities and wrongs done which he does 
not regret, but intends to repeat continually, is an insult 
to the Savior ! Seeking earnestly for salvation, when he 
does not believe or realize that he is lost ! and, conse- 
quently, can never know or realize that he is saved, and, 
therefore, can never be grateful to, or love Christ as his 
Savior. 

Would a man who believes himself in most robust 
health, send in hot-haste for a physician? Or a man 
send for a surgeon to amputate his right arm or leg, so 
long as he believed it was perfectly sound ? But let him 
be convinced that mortification has taken place, and that 
it will in a few hours or days involve a vital part, and how 
urgently will he beg for its immediate amputation! and 
how gratefully will he thank the surgeon who performed 
the operation so dexterously and tenderly, and that, too, 



110 John's baptism. 

without fee or reward, were he unable to pay him a 
dollar ! No language could express the obligation he 
would feel, the gratitude and love to him that he could 
neither repress nor express ! And this would be salva- 
tion by grace through faith, without a deed of law or 
works. 

This long- vexed question can be settled by the mathe- 
matics of reasoning, that forever excludes baptism as a 
means or condition of the remission of sins. It is claimed 
as unanswerable until answered. 

Premise first. — God has invariably appointed remission 
of sins, justification, and salvation to be the immediate 
sequences of faith Avithout the intervention of a physical 
act or duty. 

Proof. — " To Him gave all the prophets witnesses, that 
whosoever believeth on Him shall receive the remission 
of sins.'^ — Peter. 

^^ Therefore we are justified by faith without deeds of 
law.^^ — Paul. 

^' He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.'^ 

Premise second. — Baptism is a deed of law. 

Conclusion. — Therefore baptism can not be added to 
faith as a necessary factor, means, or condition of remis- 
sion of sins. 

Corollary. — Therefore, to add baptism to faith as a 
necessary condition of remission of sins, is to add to the 
gospel, which is to preach or teach another gospel, and 
to incur the plagues written in the Book. 



John's baptism. Ill 



i PAUL'S COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH AT TROAS 
THE ONLY AUTHORITY THE CAMPBELLITES HAVE 
FOR THEIR WEEKLY OBSERVANCE OF THE SUPPER. 

" Your Church observes the Lord's Supper as a Church 
ordinance, does it not?'' 

"As a gospel ordinance, we do, and — it had well-nigh 
slipped my mind — this it another mark of our being the 
Christian Church, for we are the only Church that does 
observe this ordinance scripturally, as Christ delivered 
it to His Churches; and Churches that do not observe it 
scripturally do not observe it at all, and those that do 
not, are not regular Churches, to say the least." 

"In what respects do you alone so observe it?" 

" We observe it every Lord's day." 

" Your claims are very high, and you should have the^ 
best of ground to stand upon." 

" Yej, we have the Word of God, which we consider 
the very best." 

" Certainly, if upon examination it should turn out to 
be the Word of God, and not your construction of the 
Word. Can you point me to one precept or one exam])le 
for the weekly and Lord's day observance of the Lord's 
Supper?" 

" Yes ; of both. The disciples, after the Pentecost, 
continued steadfastly in the apostles^ doctrine and fellow- 
ship, and in breaking the loaf ^ daily ;' this unquestionably 
designates the sacred meal, while ^breaking bread' de- 
noted, as it does with us, a common meal. In thus ob- 
serving the Lord's Supper daily- — which includes every 
Lord's day — they, of course, were continuing in the apos- 
tles^ doctrine — i. e., as they had been taught by them." 



il2 JOHJ^'S BAPTISM. 

*' But this does not relieve you — it only gets you into 
trouble — for, according to your reasoning, you should 
break the loaf daily V 

'' This was not the passage I wanted ; it was where 
Paul and his traveling companions remained at Troas 
seven days, so as to be able to celebrate the Lord's Sup- 
per with the Church at Troas ; which clearly proves that 
the Church at Troas did observe the Lord's Supper on 
the Lord's day." 

^'On the Lord's day sometimes, as all Churches do." 

^^ I think on every Lord's day, or Paul and his friends 
would not have waited seven days when Paul was in so 
great haste to get to Jerusalem. 

'' The Church at Troas was planted by Paul, as were 
so many of the apostolic Churches, and the directions he 
gave to one he gave to all ; and therefore I conclude that 
all the primitive Churches broke the loaf on every Lord's 
day. Can you not accept this reasoning?" 

'' Certainly not, for it does not rest upon a single fact 
to establish your practice, but upon suppositions only, 
and a thousand suppositions prove nothing. 

^^ There is no proof in the ^ Word ' that there ever was a 
Church in Troas, much less in the first century — in Paul's 
day. It is denied and proof challenged in vain. Xot 
the least intimation even that there was one, in the Xew 
Testament — but against the supposition. If one, why 
did not Luke state the fact ? Why did he give no intima- 
tion how the brethren there received him, or how they 
parted with him, as he did when he reached and when he 
left the brethren at Ephesus and other places? There is 
no mention or hint of one there in the first centurv, in 



I 
4 



John's baptism. 113 

Ecclesiastical history, whicli there would have been had 
there existed one in the commercial capital of Asia. 

" Paul sent letters to the seven Churches'^ of Asia, cer- 
tainly implies there were but seven Churches in that part 
of Asia he referred to. He sent no letter to the Church 
at Troas, the most important city at that time in Asia. 

^^ To prove your position, you suppose — 

" 1. There was a Church there ; 

" 2. That they observed the Supper every Lord^s day ; 

^^ 3. That Paul and his traveling companions celebra- 
ted it with it — i. e., the Church ; 

"4. And that in the third loft of a public lodging- 
house ; and, 

'^ 5. And between tw(!) or three o^clock Monday morn- 
ing. 

" Since you rest such lofty claims upon Paul and his 
seven brethren observing the Supper on every Lord's 
day, and rest them upon this single passage, let us exam- 
ine the whole history of the case : 

^^Paul was on his journey from Asia to Jerusalem, 
hoping to get there before the Pentecost. The narrative 
of this journey is given by Luke after his stop at Ephe- 
sus. It begins with the twentieth chapter of Acts. 

'^A number of brethren, young mioisters doubtless 
some were, learning of the voyage, and that he would make 
a stop at Troas, determined to accompany him a part of the 
way. Luke is particular to give their names. ^ And 
there went with him into Asia: Sopater, Aristarchus, 
Secundus, Gains, Timotheus, Tychicus and Trophimus' — 
seven in all — Dr. Luke, his companion and writer of 
the Acts, with Paul, making nine. The seven brethren 
whose names are given above, going before us (Luke and 



114 John's baptism. 

Paul), waited for us (Luke and Paul) at Troas. And we 
(Paul and Luke) sailed out from Philippi after the days 
of unleavened bread, and came unto them — i. e., the seven 
brethren who were waiting for Paul at Troas — where we 
(Paul and all this company) continued seven days. (It 
is not said why they waited : the ship had probably to 
unload and reload; perhaps the wind was unfavorable; 
we have no right to add to the ' Word.') And on the 
first day of the week we (this can include only the last- 
mentioned we — this does not mean the Church at Troas, 
but Paul and his companions, nine in all), having assem- 
bled to break bread — evidently a common meal, the sup- 
per, the last meal they were to eat together at Troas, for 
Paul had heard the ship would sail in the morning (I 
say the meal was their evening meal, for the lamps were 
lighted), Paul discoursed or reasoned with them (which 
refers to the same persons, and no more, that the lue above 
does), and he continued his discourse to, or conversation 
wdth, them (for the word dialegomai may mean either; it 
is not either krusso or eimgillizo, used for j^Teaehing) until 
midnight. 

If it was a gathering of the Church and citizens of 
Troas, would there not have been some mention or hint 
of it? Then, the place where Paul and his companions 
had gathered — in the third loft of the house in which 
they lodged — makes it improbable. The fall of Euty- 
chus interrupted the talk or conversation. Paul went 
down and brought the boy back to life. Paul returned 
to the upper room. How much time passed between the 
going down cf Paul to restore the boy and his return to 
to the upper chamber is not stated, but it was, probably, 
not less that one hour. " Paul ate a full meal,'' says. 



John's baptism. 115 

Dean Alford, " and the others doubtless did the same/^ 
This meal was not eaten on the first day of the week, but 
between one and two o^clock Monday morning ! 

'^ You can see upon what slender grounds your much- 
vaunted practice and Church claims rest — not on the 
Word, but on your construction of the Word/^ 



116 



JOHN 3 BAPTISM. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE BAPTIST CHURCH TRIED BY JOHN^S BAPTISM. 



n 



The straDger left the pastor of the " Christian Church, 
whom he found to be a teacher of Judaism, but a short 
step removed from Catholicism in doctrine, placing, as 
the system does, its minister directly between the sinner 
and the cross, and blood of Christ — as virtually a priest 
through whose of&ces he must reach that blood or be lost. 
He bent his steps northward on Second street, until they 
were arrested by the strains of a sweet song that floated 
out through the open doors of an unpretentious house of 
worship on Second street. The words of that song were 
plainly distinguished and thrilling : 

" I love thy kingdom, Lord, 
The house of Thine abode : 
The church our bless'd Redeemer saved 
With His own precious blood. 

For her my tears shall fall. 

For her my prayers ascend ; 
To her my cares and toils be given, 

Till toils and cares shall end. 

Beyond my highest joys 

I prize her heavenly ways : 
Her sweet communion, solemn vows, 

Her hymns of love and praise." 

As the last strains were dying away, he said, ^^ This is 
the song of my people f^ and I saw large tears drop from 
his eyes. ^^None but they can, with the spirit and un- 
derstanding, sing that song. I shall be welcome here;'^ 
and without waiting for the services of sexton or usher 



John's baptism. 117 

lie entered. The pastor had finished his sermon and 
given his usual invitation to any one wishing to unite 
with that Church to come forward and take the front 
seat^ while a song was being sung. The stranger passed 
directly to the front, and when opportunity was given to 
make known to the Church his wishes he arose w^ith such 
a wonderfully sweet dignity that he attracted every eye. 
^^ Brethren, for such I feel you are, I was attracted into 
your worship by the sweet song you have just sung. It 
contains the deepest sentiments of my soul. That Church 
and that kingdom have had the supreme sacrifice of my 
life — my cares and my toils, my tears and my blood. I 
am seeking a Church in the hearts of whose members 
Christ alone is enthroned as their King, and whose cause 
they love beyond their highest joy — a Church that will 
receive me upon my baptism, which was administered by 
John the Baptist to the greater than himself — his Lord 
and King; and on this baptism I offer myself to you.^' 
An aged brother instantly arose and said, ^^ I move 
you, brethren, that we receive him into the fellowship of 
our Church as we already have into our hearts, and that, 
brethren, upon his baptism ; it was the one our Lord and 
Savior received, and the baptism which He himself insti- 
tuted and commanded His Church to observe until the 
end, and which He affirmed should exist upon the earth 
unmoved and unshaken, despite the powers of darkness 

and death. ^^ 

" Should all the wiles that men devise, 

Assault my faith with treacherous art, 
I 'd call them vanities and lies, 

And bind this promise to my heart — 

There was one unanimous and hearty assent. As the 
Church arose to go forward to give him the hand of fel- 



118 John's baptism. 

lowsliip, and as we were looking upon him, his counte- 
nance beamed with a glory I can not describe. His gar- 
ments were no longer travel-worn or of earth, but had 
changed to a dazzling white, glistening like the sun. All 
eyes were turned toward and fixed in wonder upon him. 
The silence was broken by the old brother, who, with 
hands and arms outstretched, exclaimed, ^' My Lord and 
my God! My Blessed Savior! I have waited long 
for Thy coming, and now mine eyes behold Thee ;" and 
as he moved toward him the more elderly portion of the 
Church immediately started forward to reach his out- 
stretched and open hands, in which were clearly seen the 
prints of the nails. I was surprised to see so many of 
the members turn, with the crowd of unregenerate, and 
with blanched faces, to the doors to go out. I recognized 
these as the dancers and theater-goers of the Church; 
albeit some were Sunday-school teachers. They could 
not look that Savior in the face or take the hand that 
was pierced for them, and whose wounds they had so 
often torn open and made to bleed afresh by their cruel 
denials of Him. 

I had pressed forward and had clasped His feet and was 
kissing the scars made by the nails, and bathing them 
with my grateful tears. I felt His hand upon my head, 
and as He raised me up I heard those words my inner- 
most soul had yearned for" so many years to hear, above 
my chief joy : ^' Well done. My old and faithful servant ! 
Thou hast not been ashamed of Me, nor of My words 
before men. Thou hast been faithful over a few things 
according to the ability I have given thee. Thou hast 
not been ashamed of Me.'' I could hear no more ; my 
innermost soul was ravished by His love ; my senses 



John's baptism. 119 

swam in an ecstacy of delight. I seemed to have gath- 
ered them all in one expressive outburst of joy ^ to empty 
my heart of overburdened joy — Alleluia ! The shout 
awoke me ; and, behold ! — it was a dream ! But, yet, 
not all a dream ; for the hallowed influence of that hour 
will forever remain, and those words in that tone of 
melody shall ever, 

"Till life itself depart, 
* * melt and move my heart." 

" My aged and faithful servant ! Thou hast not been 
ashamed of Me nor of My word before men — the men 
of this world. I will not be ashamed of thee before My 

Father and the holy angels. Enter into the joy !" 

9 



PART II. 



J 



(121) 



John's baptism. 123 



CHAPTER I. 



MEANING OF BAPTIZO. 



This is the term that Christ used when he commanded • 
John to baptize Him. 

Whatever act it denotes, it was the act the Holy Spirit 
says John administered to Christ in the river of Jordan. 
It was the only word Christ used when He commanded 
John to baptize the people. And the Holy Spirit testi- 
fies it denoted the act John administered to all the peo- 
ple, and that the seventy disciples administered. In a 
word, it was the term that Christ used when He gave the 
commission to His apostles : " Go ye into all the world,'' 
^' and teach all nations, baptizing them,'' etc. It is the 
only word used by Christ in enjoining the duty of bap- 
tism upon all believers. 

What did it mean when He used it? That it means 
now. He did not say baptize. The Holy Spirit, who 
selected every word the evangelists and the apostles 
used, never used the word baptize. The word was not 
used in the English language, or any other language, 
before the translation of the Bible out of the Hebrew and 
Greek languages into the English. 

The word baptize was made by King James' transla- 
tors, by changing the o into e, and the word baptism, by 
dropping OS from the Greek word baptismos. 

Edward Beecher (Pedobaptist), in his work on the 
^^ Import of Baptism" (page 5), tells us ivhy and hoio it 
was made : 

" At the time of the translation of the Bible a contro- 



124 John's baptism. 

versy had arisen with regard to the import of the word,, 
so that, although it was conceded to have an import vi 
the original, yet it was impossible to assign it in English 
any meaning, without seeming to take sides in the con- 
troversy then pending. Accordingly, in order to take 
neither side, they did not attempt to give the sense of 
the term in a significant English word: so they merely 
transferred the word hajptizo, with slight alteration, to our 
language. The consequence was, that it does not express 
its original significancy to the mind of the English reader, 
or indeed any significancy except what was derived from 
its application to designate an external visible rite.''* 

The reader can see the ignorance manifested by those 
who refer to ^^ Webster" for a correct definition oihaptizo, 
by looking under the word baptize. " Webster's " is an 
English Dictionary, and he gives every word which the 
people call baptism. 

While the term baptizo has a definite meaning in the 
original, yet the translators saw if they should translate 
it they would seem to be giving the advantage to one of 
the parties ; so they changed the o into an e, and let it 
stand; hence, the word has no meaning, and all that can 
be learned from it is from the connection in which it 
stands. 

Let us find its meaning from the connection in which 
it stands : 

Jesus came " from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, 
to be baptized of him." The next step, Jesus went down 
into the water of the river, else He could not have come up 
out of the water. But what John did is not intimated. 



* Had those translators faithfully translated the Word of God, 
there would have been but one baptism — i. e., immersion — prac- 
ticed to-day. The New Testament was purposely mistranslated bo 
as not to give Baptists the testimony of God's Word. 



John's baptism. 125 

We now turn and look forward to the baptism of the 
eunuch by Phillip. And the eunuch said unto Phillip, 
'^ See, here is water : what doth hinder me to be bap- 
tized?" We learn that the act to be administered re- 
quired water. And they both went down into the water, 
both Phillip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 

From this we learn that it required sufiicient water for 
both the baptizer and the subject to go down into ; but 
v/hat Phillip did to the eunuch we can not gather, but it 
fairly looks to wetting the subject all over; or why both 
go down into the water ? 

We now turn to Romans vi. Paul says : ^' Know ye 
not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ 
were baptized into His death ?" — i. e., to represent His 
death ; for Peter has told us that baptism was a figure, 
and a figure represents something ; and therefore, for this 
reason, we were buried with Him by baptism into death. 
Christ and the apostle Paul, and the brethren of the 
Church at Rome, were buried to represent death. John 
the Baptist, therefore, buried Christ in the waters of the 
Jordan to represent death. And Phillip took the eunuch 
into the water that he might the more easily bury or 
immerse him. 

Paul tells the Church at Colosse that they were buried 
by baptism or immersion. 

In this way we have found the correct definition of the 
untranslated word baptizo and the new-made word baptize. 

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD DIVIDED BETWEEN FOUR WORDS 
— TO IMMERSE, TO SPRINKLE, TO POUR, TO PURIFY. 

It can not mean to sprinkle or pour. I can make it 
plain to every child that baptizo can not mean either to 



126 John's baptism. 

sprinkle or to pour, for the object to De sprinkled or 
poured must be susceptible of being divisible — divided 
into small particles, as dust, ashes, etc. — for to sprinkle is 
to scatter abroad in fine particles, as sand, dust, etc.; and 
to pour, is to turn out in a continuous stream, as we pour 
out water or any liquid. We can not sprinkle j^ersons, be- 
cause we can not divide them into small particles or pieces, 
so as to scatter them. And for the same reason we can 
not pour persons in a continuous stream, as water. We 
can sprinkle or pour water upon persons, but we are not 
commanded to sprinkle, pour, baptize or purify water, but 
persons, which is impossible for us to do; but when we 
sprinkle or pour for this rite, we baptize, pour, sprinkle 
or purify the water. Remember, the act, whatever it was, 
which Christ commanded terminates upon the person ; 
but the act which sprinklers and pourers and purifiers 
perform terminates upon the water. If it is baptism, as 
they claim, then it is not the act Christ commanded, for 
they baptize the water, and He commanded them to bap- 
tize persons. They manifestly do not obey Christ by 
baptizing the loater. This may be dismissed with a smile 
or a sneer as a simple argument. Certainly it is a simple 
argument, that a child can understand, but it is not a 
senseless one. It never has been answered, and it never 
can be. When you allow the minister to sprinkle water 
upon you for baptism, you have not obeyed Christ, to be 
baptized ; when you have allowed the water to be bap- 
tized upon you, to sprinkle or pour the water is not bap- 
tizing you, but the water. If not satisfied with this 
substitute — sprinkle and pour and purify — try another 
simple one for immerse. 



John's baptism. 127" 

Argument from Substitution. 

It is agreed that haptizo signifies either to immerse, to 
pour, to purify, or to sprinkle. If so, the word that will 
make the best sense in every place where haptizo is found 
in the New Testament, is manifestly the word the Holy 
Spirit used. 

Matt iii, 5 : " Then went out to Him Jerusalem, and 
all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and 
were'' sprinkled — i. e., scattered, poured out; purified — 
i. e., loashed — immersed in the river of Jordan, etc. 

Which word makes the best sense? — two are impossi- 
ble. Try again. I indeed sprinkle (i. e., scatter) you,, 
pour you, purify you in (for en never means with^ but in 
as often as our in means in in our language) immerse you 
in water, but he shall poibr you, sprinkle (i. 6., scatter) 
you, purify you, immerse you, in the Holy Ghost and 
in fire. 

Jesus, when he was sprinkled — i. e., scattered about, 
poured out in a continuous stream — purified, immersed— 
went up straightway out of the water. 

Mark i, 5 : '^ And there went out unto him all the land 
of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all " sprinkled, 
poured, purified, immersed " of him in the river of Jor- 
dan." It expressly says that whatever was done here was 
done to the people, not at or near or with, but in the 
river of Jordan. Were the people sprinkled into the 
river, or poured, or purified into, or were they immersed 
in the river ? 

Know ye not, brethren, that so many of us as were 
poured, or sprinkled, or purified, or immersed into Jesus 
Christ, were poured, or sprinkled, or purified, or im- 
mersed into His death. Therefore we were buried with 



128 John's baptism. 

Him. by a sprinkling (i. e., a scattering) into His death ; or 
we were buried with Him by a pourings or we were 
buried with Him by a purifying, or we Avere buried with 
Him by an immersion. One of these terms, and one 
only — immersion — makes the shadow of any sense in all 
places. 

Col. ii, 12 : Buried with Him by an immersion, buried 
v»rith Him by a sprinkling into death, buried with Him 
by a pouring into death, buried with Him by purifying 
into death ; only one of these terms — only immersion — 
makes sense in all places; therefore immerse was the word 
the Holy Spirit selected and used. 

Argument from Usus Loqucndi. 

The ultimate authority in ascertaining the real literal 
definition of a word, is its general use by the best writers 
and speakers of the language in which the word is found. 
This is the source from which the lexicons derive the 
meanings of words. 

The great and masterly work of Dr. Conant, for many 
years Professor in Madison Univerity, N. Y., and also of 
Rochester University, N. Y., is his book '^ Baptizein,^^ in 
which he has given every passage in the Greek classical 
writers and early Christian writers in which the word 
baptizo occurs. He says they include all the words that 
have been found by lexicographers and by those who 
have professedly written on this subject, and these ex- 
haust the use of the word in Greek literature. This is 
the summary: In one hundred and seventy -five quota- 
tions from the Greek classics, he translates baptizo by 
immerse forty-four times; submerge, twenty-two times- 
immerge, fifteen times; dip, ten times; imbathe, two 



John's baptism. 120 



times; plunge, seventeen times; wlielm, fifty-six times; 
overwhelm, nine times. 

In his forty-seven translations from the Greek and 
Lat'n fathers, he gives buried in water, eleven times; 
immersion, thirty-six times. 

In his fourteen quotations from the Latin fathers, he 
gives the meaning buried in water, three times ; immerse, 
eleven times. 

Here, then, is a thorough investigation of all the clas- 
sics, and not a single example is found in which baptizo 
means to sprinkle or pour; but the evidence presented 
sets the matter beyond all reasonable doubt that it means 

to immerse. 

LEXICAL ATJTHOEITIES. 

I have given only the primary, which is the literal, 

definition. 

1. 

Thayer (1888) is admitted to be the latest and best 
authority. — Baptizo. An immersion in water, per- 
formed as a sign of the removal of sin, and administered 
to those who, impelled by a desire of salvation, sought 
admission to the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom. 

2. 
Kobinson. — Baptizo. To immerse, to sink. 

3. 
Donnegan. — Baptizo. To immerse, to submerge. 

4. 
Stephanus. — Baptizo. To immerse. 

5. 
Schleusner. — Baptizo. To immerse and dip in, to 
immerse into water. 

6. 

Parkhurst. — Baptizo. To dip, immerse, or plunge 
in water. 



130 JOHN 3 BAPTISM. 

7. ■ 
Schrevelius. — Baptize. To baptize, immerse. 

8. 
Wright. — Baptizo. To dip, immerse, plunge, bap- 
tize, overwhelm. 

9 

Leigh. — Baptizo. To dip into water, or to plunge 
under water. 

10. 

Greenfield — Baptizo. To immerse, immerge, sub- 
merge, sink. 

11. 

Ewing. — Baptizo. To cover with water, plunge into 
or sink completely under water. 

12. 
Hederic. — Baptizo. To immerse, immerge, over- 
whelm in water. 

13. 

Scapula. — Baptizo. To immerse or immerge. 

14. 
Suidas. — Baptizo. To immerse, to immerge, to dip, 

to dip in. 

15. 

Schoettgen. — Baptizo. To plunge, to immerse, or 
plunge in water. 

16. 

Dunbar. — Baptizo. To dip, immerse, submerge, 
plunge, sink. 

17. 

Laing. — Baptizo. To baptize, to plunge in water. 

18. 
Morel. — Baptizo. To immerse, to immerge, to over- 
whelm in water. 

19. 

Bass. — Baptizo. To dip, immerse, plunge in water. 

20. 
T. S. Green. — Baptizo. To dip, immerse. 



John's baptism. 131 

21. 
Sincer. — Baptize. To dip, immerse. 

22. 
Grove. — Baptizo. To dip, immerse, immerge, plunge. 

23. 

Jones. — Baptizo. To plunge, plunge in water, dip, 

baptize. 

24. 

Stokins. — Baptizo. To immerse, to dip into water. 

25. 
Robertson. — Baptizo. To immerse. 

26. 
Schwarzins. — Baptizo. To baptize, to immerse, to 
overwhelm, to dip into. 

27. 
Mintert. — Baptizo. To baptize, to plunge, to im- 
merse, to dip into water. 

28. 

Pasor. — Baptizo. To immerse. 

29. 
Alestedius. — Baptizo. To immerse. 

30. 
Bretschneider. — Baptizo. To immerse. 

31. 
Art. — Baptizo. To cover over, to overwhelm. 

32. 
Liddle and Scott. — Baptizo. To dip in or under 
water. 

33. 

Sophocles (Greek Lex. of the Roman and Byzantine 
periods B. C. 146, A. D. 1100-1870).— Baptizo. To dip, 
to immerse. 

34. 

Rost and Palm. — Baptizo. To dip in or under. 



132 John's baptism. 

35. 
Stepliaiius (1572. Thesaurus). — Baptize. To plunge 

or immerse. 

36. 

Zanchius (1619. Opera 6, p. 217). — Baptism is a 

Greek word, and signifies, first and properly, immersion 

in water. 

37. 

Alsted (1625. Lexicon Theol.). — Baptizo signifies only 

to immerse. 

38. 

Leigh (1646. Critica Sacra on Baptismos). — Signifies 
immersion in water ; from the very etymology, it would 
appear what had been originally the custom of adminis- 
tering baptism. 

39. 

A. Symson (1658. Lexicon of N. T.).— To dip or 
plunge into the water, 

40. 

^^ Thesaurus Disput.,'' vol. I, p. 769: 1661.— Entirely 
immersed in water. 

41. 

Schrevellins (1685). — To immerse, dip. 

42. 
Hoffmann (1898. Universal Lexicon). — The Jews, 
apostles, and primitive churches used immersion. 

43. 
"Stockii Calvis^' (1725). — Baptisma originally desig- 
nated immersion in water to make clean. 

44. 
P. Mintert (1728. Lexicon of N. T.).— Baptisma, 
properly and from its origin, denotes a washing which is 
performed by immersion. 

45. 
Calmet (1729. Biblical Die.) — The Jews dipped them- 
selves entirely under the water, and this is the most sim- 
ple notion of the word baptize. 



JOHN S BAPTISM. i66- 

46. 
J. Albert! (1735. Glossarium Greacum). — Baptize, 

immerse. 

47. 

Schleusner^s Lexicon (1808). — Those who were to be 
baptized were anciently immersed. 

48. 
Stourdza (1816). — Baptizo has but one signification. 
It signifies, literally and invariably, to plunge. 

49. 

Larcher-Hederich (1816. Greek Lexicon). — Baptizo, 

immerse. 

50. 

G. G. Bretschneider (1829. N. T. Lexicon).— In the 
New Testament, used only for a sacred submersion. 

51. 
Buttman (1829. Grammer, p. 88). — Baptizo. To im- 
merse. 

52. 

Rof. Rost (1829. German-Greek Lexicon). — The pri- 
mary signification of baptizo is plunge, submerge or im- 
merse. 

53. 

" Conversation's Lexicon, Art Taufe." — In the age of 
the apostles baptism was very simple. They and their 
successors dipped their candidates into a river or tank 
filled with water. 

54. 

Kaltschundt (1839. Lexicon.) — Baptizo. To dip, im^ 
merse. 

55 

William Veitch on Greek Verbs (1848). —Baptizo. To 
dip. 

56 

W. F. Hook (1854. Church Dictionary). — In per- 
forming the ceremony of baptism the usual custom was 
to immerse and dip the whole body. 



134 John's baptism. 



57 



Bishop E. H. Browne (1861. Smith's Dictionary of 
the Bible) on Baptism. — The language of the New Tes- 
tament and of the primitive fathers sufficiently points to 
immersion as the common mode of baptism. 



58 



John Henry Blunt (1870. Dictionary of Doctrinal 
Historical Theology). — The primitive mode of baptizing 
was by immersion, as we learn from the clear testimony 
of holy scriptures of the fathers. 



59 



E. A. Sophocles (1870. Greek Lexicon, on Baptizo. — 
Baptizo. To dip, to immerse, to sink. 

60 

Pape (1880. Greek-German Dictionary. — Baptizo. 
To dip in, dip under. 

61 

Cassell (Bible Dictionary). — Baptism in early times 
was generally administered by immersion.* 

62 

Charles Anthon, LL. D. (Episcopalian. Prof of Latin 
and Greek, in Columbia College, N. Y.) — The primary 
meaning is dip or immerse. Secondary, if it has any, 
refers to the same leading idea. Sprinkling and pouring 
are entirely out of the question. (See ^' Stuart on Bap- 
tism,'' p. 7.) 

Here is a list of sixty-two standard Greek Lexicons 
giving only to dip, to immerse, as the literal primary 
meaning, which is the real meaning, of the word in the 
Greek, corroborating the declaration of Dr. Charles 



* These Lexicons are those collated in the CarroUton Debate, 
:and from Dr. Bailey's Manual and Dr. Everts. 



John's baptism, 135 

Anthon (Episcopalian), President of Columbia College, 

N Y : '^Baptizo — The primary meaning of the word is 

to dip, to immerse; and its secondary meaning, if it ever 

had any, refers to the same leading idea. Sprinkling and 

pouring are entirely out of the question.'^ 
10 



136 John's baptism. 



CHAPTER II. 



SACRED USE. 



" Baptizo, to dip, to immerse, to sink. There is no evidence that 
Luke and John and Paul, and the other writers of the New Testa- 
ment, put upon this verb meanings not recognized by the Greeks." 
— Greeh Lexicon on Baptizo ; 1870 ; E. A. Sophocles. 

Some few Pedobaptists polemics, unable to find sprink- 
ling, pouring or purifying as a possible definition of 
Baptizo in classic Greek, have claimed that it has a 
sacred meaning. 

Sophocles, a native Greek, says it has no different 
meaning in the New Testament than in any other book. 
We might as well claim a sacred use of English words. 

Professor Stuart, the most learned man in his denom- 
ination (Congregational ist), and Professor for thirty 
years in their Theological Seminary at Andover, gave 
the best years of his life to the study of classic Greek, to 
vindicate the practice of the affusion of infants — a car- 
dinal doctrine of his Church; and this is his final con- 
clusion : 

^^We have collected facts enough to authorize us now 
to come to the following general conclusion respecting 
the practice of the Christian Church with regard to the 
mode of baptizing, viz : That from the earliest ages of 
which we have any account, subsequent to the apostolic 
age, and downward for several centuries, the Churches 
did generally practice baptism by immersion. 

^^In w^hat manner, then, did the Churches of Christ, 
from a very early period, to say the least, understand the 



JOnX'S BAPTISM. 137 

word Baptizo in the New Testament? Plainly, tliey con- 
strued it as meaning immersion. They sometimes even 
went so far as to forbid any other method of administer- 
ing the ordinance, cases of necessity and mercy only 
excepted. 

'^Script. Thel., Wir-temb et Patriarch Constant., Jer., 
pp. 63, 238 ; Christ, Angeli Enchirid de Statu hodlerno 
Grae cor., p. 24. Augusti Denkwiird, vii, p. 266, et seq. 
The members of the Church are accustomed to call the 
members of the Western Churches sprinkle Christians, by 
way of ridicule and contempt. "Walch's Einleit in die 
relig. Streitigkeiten, Th., v, pp. 476-481. They main- 
tain that Baptizo can mean nothing but immerge ; and 
that baptism by spriiikling is as great a solecism as im- 
mersion by aspersion ; and they claim to themselves the 
lionor of having preserved the ancient sacred rite of the 
Church free from change and from corruption, which 
would destroy its significancy. See Alex, de Stourdza, 
Considerations sur la Doctrine et PEsprit de PEglise 
Orthodoxe: Stuttg., 1816; pp. 83-89. 

"Thirteen hundred years was baptism generally and 
ordinarily performed by the immersion of a man under 
water; and only in extraordinary cases was sprinkling 
or affusion permitted. These latter methods of baptism 
were called in question, and even prohibited. But 
enough. It is/' says Augusti Denkw., vii, p. 216, "a 
thing made out, viz: The ancient practice of immersion. 

So, INDEED, ALL THE WRITERS WPIO HAVE THOR- 
OUGHLY INVESTIGATED THIS SUBJECT CONCLUDE. I 
KNOW OF NO ONE USAGE OF ANCIENT TIMES WHICH 
SEEMS TO BE MORE CLEARLY MADE OUT. I CAN NOT 
SEE HOW IT IS POSSIBLE FOR ANY CANDID MAN WHO 



138 John's baptism. 

EXAMINES THE SUBJECT TO DENY THIS. ThE MODE 

OF BAPTISM BY IMMERSION, the Oriental Church has 
always continued to preserve, even down to the present 
time. See Allattii de Eccles. Orient et Occident. Lib. 
Ill, c. 12, §4; Actaet. 

§ The use of the word in classic Greek. 

It will be sufficient for this work to state a fact which 
determines beyond controversy the invariable meaning 
of the term in classic Greek. Prof. T. J. Conant, D.D., 
for many years a Professor in Madison University, Ro- 
chester, N. Y., in a recent work * has given every passage 
in the Greek classical writers and early Christian writers 
in which the word baptizo occurs. Dr. C. gives the Greek 
of the writers he quotes and a translation, that all may 
read for themselves. If his translations have been chal- 
lenged in a single instance, I have not heard of it. If 
he has omitted to quote an author whose testimony would 
be unfavorable to his (Dr. C.'s) views, I have not heard 
of it. 

Here is a summary of Dr. C.^s quotations : 

In one hundred and seventy-five quotations from the 
Greek Classics he translates baptizo by immerse 44 times ; 
immergere, 15 times; submerge, 22 times; dip, 10 times; 
imbathe, 2 times; plunge, 7 times; whelm, 56 times; 
overwhelm, 9 times. 

In his forty -seven quotations from the Greek Christian 
Fathers, he gives the meaning, buried in water, 11 times; 
immersion, 36 times. In his fourteen quotations he 
gives from early Latin Christian writers, he gives the 
meaning buried in water, 3 times; immerse, 11 times. 

* Baptizein. 



JOHNS BAPTISM. 139 

The Ancient Versions of the New Testament. 

These, next to the use of the term, are the most author- 
itative witnesses as to the sacred meaning of the word in 
the age in which those versions were made ; i. e., if the 
Christian scholars of the second century understood 6ap- 
iizo to mean sprinkle or pour, they would have translated 
it by a word that means to pour or to sprinkle. But if 
they understood it to mean to immerse, they undoubt- 
edly have translated it by a word that meant immerse. 
In the first eight hundred years, fourteen versions of the 
New Testament were made. Not one of them rendered 
it to sprinkle or to pour, while all the versions made in 
that time render it by a word that means to immerse, or 
transfer the term itself. 

Prof. Stuart says the early Churches understood the 
word havtizo to mean to immerse. The oldest version 
ever made was from the Greek into the Syriac. This 
version is the oldest of all the translations of the New 
Testament that are extant, for in all probability it should 
be dated during the first half of the second century. 
Withal, it is admitted by those who are able to consult 
it, to be one of .the most faithful and authentic of all the 
ancient versions. It translates haptizo by a word signi- 
fying to immerse. 

The most authoritative version next to the Greek is 
the Syriac, and the oldest. It translates Baptizo invari- 
ably by a word that means to dip, to immerse — Amad. 

Castell (1669. Lex. Heptaglott) defines amad ahlutus 
est — to bathe, to immerse, as immerse it. 

Michael is (1778. Lex. Syr.), by the very same words, 
adding that it, amad, comes from the Arabic ghamat — to 
immerse, — and not from the Hebrew armad — to stand. 



140 John's baptism. 

Schaaf (1708. Lex. Syr.) defines amad ablutus se, ab^ 
lutus intinctus — to wash one's self, to dip, to immerse in 
water. 

Guido Fabricius (1592. Lex. Syr.) defines it, baptizavii 
intingit lavit — to dip, to bathe. 

Shindler (1612. Lex. Pentaglott) defines it baptizatus 
in aquam, immersus tinctuSj lotus fuit — to baptize, to im 
merse into water, to dip, to bathe. 

Buxtorf (1622. Lex. Chal. et Syr.) gives baptizari, 
intingit, albui — to baptize, dip in, to wash. 

Grothier defines amad baptizavit, baptizatos est — to 
immerse, to be immersed. 

Dr. Gortch (Episcopalian; a thorough Onenlalist) — 
It signifies to immerse; never to stand, much less to 
sprinkle. 

Bar-Ali (885. Syrian). — Amad : an immersion, a bath- 
ing, a dipping. 

Bernstein (Lex. Syr.). — He was dipped, immersed; he 
dipped or plunged himself into something. 

It must be evident to the reader, from the above list, 
that the Syriac verb amad meant, in the estimation of the 
translator or translators of the Syriac New Testament 
(next in authority to the Greek New Testament, which 
is the reason I give so much space to it here), something 
different from sprinkling, pouring on, or standing up. 
Immersion was the universal practice of the Syrian 
Christians, and of the Nestorians, who speak the Syriac 
language. Dr. Wall (Episcopalian) says that all the 
Christians of Asia and Africa, and one-third of those oi 
Europe, baptize by immersion. 



John's baptism. 141 



CHAPTER III. 

PHYSICAL OBJECTIONS TO IMMERSION CONSIDERED. 

After two hundred years of earnest and intense dis- 
cussion of the act of baptism by the ablest scholars of all 
denominations, and notwithstanding all the light shed 
upon the topography of Palestine — its springs, rivers, 
and water-courses — by travelers and tourists who annu- 
ally visit it, it is by some, even now, denied that there is 
such a river as the Jordan ; that what some call the Jor- 
dan is in some seasons an insignificant, seeping stream 
that could be stopped with one^s foot;* that it is the 
name of a section of the country — the Jourdane ; by 
others as a swift, dangerous, and muddy stream, too filthy 
to immerse in ; others, that it is too deep — i. e., that the 
water, all the way from head to mouth, is too deep and 
the current too swift for administrator and subject to 
stand in — that they would be swept into the Dead Sea 
unless held by ropes; others, ministers, these objectors 
one and all, assert that the banks of the river are so high 
and so precipitous that it is impossible to go down into 
its waters ; while others assert that the waters are so icy 
cold they give the parties to baptism congestive chills. 
All these, and other equally as absurd objections, since 
Lieutenant Lynch, of the U. S. Navy, passed down the 
river in boats, from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, 
surveying every mile of it, and giving in his report, 
which was published and has been for thirty years within 

* Dr. Slater's assertion. 



142 John's baptism. 

the reacli of every man wlio wished to know, all things 
pertaining to the river — a report which stamps with false- 
hood every one of these objections. 

And JEuon is treated in like manner — the " much 
water" of the scripture reduced to many little springs, 
and no one, or all together, furnishing water enough to 
iiiimerse one person. To answer this class of objectors 
we give the letter of Elder Whittle, who, with a plenty 
of time, did \yhat we opine no Pedobaptist tourist ever 
did — found the true locality of the Salem of Matthew and 
the springs of ^non, and has fully described it, thereby 
laying the Baptist denomination under a lasting debt of 
gratitude. 

Think of it — all the members of a Baptist Church 
near by have been baptized in ^non, because there is 
'' much water there. ^' Will Pedobaptists still quibble 
and deny ? 

But, remove all the objections the opposers of immer- 
sion can raise touching the scarcity of water in the Jordan 
and at ^non, and they will shortly find other and as 
silly objections. The last I have seen is that John would 
not have had time to immerse the millions of the people 
of Jerusalem, Judea, and all the regions round about tlie 
Jordan, and therefore he must have sprinkled them — 
standing them up in rows on the bank and sprinkling 
them with a hyssop bush ! When some of all classes of 
the population of a city, town, or country go out to a 
meeting or special occasion, it is a common expression, 
and well understood, to say, the whole town, or city, or 
village, or the whole country went out or was there. 

Xow, the record distinctly tells us that the Pharisees 
and Sadducees — which classes composed the majority of 



John's baptism. 143^ 

the population — rejected the counsel of Grod against 
themselves^ not being baptized of John ; and the priests, 
who composed another large class, rejected his baptism ;, 
and he baptized only those who repented and gave him 
satisfactory evidence of it — brought forth ^^ fruits meet 
for repentance.^' A few hundreds, or thousands at most, 
were baptized by John. These would satisfy all the re- 
quirements of the case. 

And, then, the three thousand baptized on the day of 
Pentecost, and doubtless in but a part of one day, and 
therefore they must have been sprinkled ! The record 
does not say they were all baptized, but that they were 
all added to the Church the same day. Many of these, 
and even the majority of them, were the disciples of 
John and of the seventy missionaries of Christ, and their 
disciples were all baptized by them. But suppose all the 
three thousand were baptized that day : it could have 
been easily done. There were eighty-two ordained bap- 
tizers — the twelve apostles and the seventy = 82 ; and our 
ministers can baptize and often have baptized two per 
minute. The eighty-two, then, could have immersed one 
hundred and sixty- four per minute, and it would not 
have taken eighty-two administrators twenty minutes to 
immerse the three thousand. 

Now, what do these silly and absurd objections to im- 
mersion mean but to discredit with the unthinking people 
the positive statements of the Holy Ghost and of the 
Word of God — that John did immerse Christ and mul- 
titudes of the people in the River Jordan ? If this is not 
speaking against the Holy Spirit, we know not what it 
is to speak against the Spirit. I do know that Matt.. 
xviii, 6, applies to such. 



.144 JORDAN. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE EIVER JORDAN — DOES IT AFFORD WATER ENOUGH 

FOR IMMERSION? ARE ITS WATERS ACCESSIBLE? 

THEY WERE IN THE DAYS OF MOSES AND OF DAVID. 

Odg of the arguments used by some of the opponents 
of baptism by immersion is that the Jordan is not a 
river at all, or a river of mud, or something else — not 
furnishing water enough to immerse a person in. As 
they are ministers — men who are supposed to be familiar 
with the Bible — who teach the people this, we propose 
to refer you to the passages in the Bible that allude to 
this river.^^ 

Here is the direction of God to the Israelites about 
passing over this river : 

" Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes 
of Israel, out of every tribe a man. And it shall come 
to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests 
that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, 
shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jor- 
dan shall be cut off, from the waters that comes down 
from above; and they shall stand upon a heap. And 
it came to pass when the people removed from their 
tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the 
ark of the covenant before the people ; and as they that 
bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the 
priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the 
water (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks at the time 
of harvest), that the water which came down from above, 
stood and rose up upon a heap very far, from the city ot 
Adam, that is beside Zaretan; and those that came down 
toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea failed, and 




THE JORDAN 



JORDAN. 145 

i^^ere cut off; and the people passed over right against 
Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the cov- 
enant of the LoED stood firm on dry ground in the 
midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on 
dry ground^ until all the people were passed clean over 
Jericho/' — Josh, iii, 12-17. 

There was sufficient water in this river in the days of 
Naaman, for he dipped himself seven times in it. He 
reached the water, and was not drowned or carried down 
into the Dead Sea. 

^^And his servants came near and spake unto him, and 
said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some 
great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much 
rather, then, when he saith to thee, V/ash and be clean ? 
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in 
Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God : and 
his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, 
and he was clean.^' — 2 Kings, v, 13, 14. 

It seems, from Jeremiah, that the Jordan was a for- 
midable river during its swelling or flood time. 

'* If thou hast run with the footmen, and they had 
wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses ? 
and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they 
wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of 
Jordan?" — Jer. xii, 5. 

When David returned to Jerusalem, after the battle 
in which Absalom fell, he was compelled to use ferry 
boats to pass his family and army over the Jordan. 

*^And there were o. thousand men of Benjamin with 
Tiim, and Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, and his 
fifteen sons, and his twenty servants with him, and they 
went over Jordan before the king. And there went 
over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, 
and to do what he thought good ; and Shimei the son of 



146 JORDAN. 

Gera fell down before the king as lie was come over 
Jordan." — 2 Sam. xix, 17, 18. 

There was some depth of water in parts of the Jordan, 
at least in the days of Elisha; for an axe head tha-t 
chanced to fall into it was considered lost, and was only 
recovered by a miracle. 

^'So he went with them. And when they came to 
Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a 
beam, the axe head fell into the water : and he cried, 
and Haid, Alas, master ! for it was borrowed. And the 
man of God said, Where fell it ? And he shewed him 
the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in 
thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he. 
Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took 
it."— 2 Kings vi, 4-8. 

I have demonstrated that baptizo means to immerse, 
and I shall use that w^ord. There was water in the Jordan 
in the days of John the Baptist, and if ^' Jesus, when he 
was immersed, went up straightway out of the water," he 
must then have gone down into it (Matt, iii, 16). In those 
days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was 
immersed of John in Jordan, he could not have been 
immersed with Jordan. 

^^ And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, 
and they of Jerusalem, and were all immersed of him in 
the river Jordan, confessing their sins." — Mark i, 5. 

Certainly not 'with the river Jordan. Then as now 
Lieut. Lynch, with boats, navigated it from the sea of 
Galilee to the Dead Sea. Dr. Talmage immersed two 
men in the Jordan — Dr. Holt and AV. D. Powell — in 
1890, and saw the thousands of pilgrims immerse them- 
selves and each other in the river Jordan, and none were 
drowned ! No one had a congestive chill. 



JORDAN. 147 

I prepare this chapter to prove, by living witnesses, 
that the Jordan is still a river, and that its waters are 
accessible, and are neither dangerous nor so muddy as to 
be undrinkable. 

I am now, as never before, impressed with this thought : 
that God^s plans and purposes never depend on any one 
man. When Moses was no more, Joshua took up, and 
carried on to completion, his unfinished work. We have 
here a beautiful example of how the labors of God's 
servants are interlinked with each other. Moses lib- 
erated Israel from Egyptian bondage, but it was left to 
Joshua to lead them into the promised land. Forty 
years they had wandered in the wilderness, warring with 
the diiferent tribes through whose territory they had 
passed ; forty years they had been miraculously fed with 
manna; forty years they were guided by a pillar of 
cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night; but at last 
the gladsome day came when they were to exchange the 
stony wilderness for the land that flowed with milk and 
honey. There was joy in the camp. With happy 
hearts and strong hands three million Hebrews folded 
their tents and marched side by side, shoulder to shoulder, 
to the river's brink. And I am sure that while there 
they sang in spirit, if not in letter : 

" On Jordan's stormy banks we stand, 
And cast a wishful eye 
To Canaan's fair and happy land, 
Where our possessions lie." 

It is well to walk in the footsteps of great men ; so, 
having followed Moses out of Egypt, let us now follow 
Joshua into Canaan. Leaving Nebo's Summit, and 
coming down on the north side of the mountain, we find 



148 JORDAN. 

at its base a bold spring which bears the name of the 
great law-giver. Around this spring of Moses the 
hosts of Israel, it is supposed, pitched their tents. Still, 
following Joshua, we soon find ourselves standing on 
the banks of the Jordan. Ah, sacred river! how it 
thrills me to be here ! ^^ Thy banks, winding in a thou- 
sand graceful mazes, are fringed with perpetual verdure ; 
thy pathway is cheered with the sight and songs of birds, 
and by thy own clear voice of gushing minstrelsy. 
There is a pleasure in the green-wooded banks, seen far 
along the sloping valley ; a tracery of life, amid the 
death and dust that hem thee in, so like some trace of 
gentleness in a corrupt and wicked heart." 

I have crossed many important streams. I have been 
on the Rio Grande ; I have sailed up and down the Mis- 
sisippi and the Ohio ; the Hudson and the St. Lawrence; 
I have sailed on tlie Thames through London; on the 
Seine through Paris; on the Tiber through Rome; on 
the Rhine through Germany ; on the Danube through 
all western Europe; on the Nile through Egypt, and yet 
I freely acknowledge that I never w^as so moved by any 
stream as by the sight of this historic river. It w^as the 
Jordan that divided and let the children of Israel pass 
over on dry ground. It was the Jordan whose waters 
cleansed Naaman of his leprosy. It was the Jordan 
whose stream floated an ax at the prophet's com- 
mand. It was the Jordan, also, on whose banks 
another prophet stood and preached repentance, and in 
whose waters he buried Christ in baptism. John the 
Baptist was a man after my own heart. Ho came on the 
stage of action filled and fired with a purpose — he was 
conscious of a commission from God. He believed, there- 



JORDAN. 149' 

fore he spoke; and, as he spoke, the people left their 
homes and hovels in Jerusalem, Jadea, and all the region 
round about Jordan, and flocked to hear him. 

Reader, we are on historic ground. Stand here with 
me on the banks of the stream, and let us behold a 
sacred scene together. The river here makes a graceful 
curve toward the east, and is at this point about fifty 
yards, or one hundred and fifty feet wide. The western 
bank, on which we stand, is low and level, not more 
than eighteen inches, or two feet, above the surface of 
the river, and gently slopes down to the water. The 
opposite bank is a wall of rock, rising up perpendic- 
ularly for eighteen or twenty feet, then, retreating beau- 
tifully in a terrace, another terrace, and another one 
still. Terraces rise above and beyond each other like 
seats in an opera-house. These terraces gracefully 
stretch themselves along the rocky bluff of this river for 
two hundred yards or more, until at least a hundred and 
fifty or two hundred thousand people could be so seated 
along the terraced blufp of the river as to look down 
upon its watery surface. Let us, in our imagination, 
re- people all these terraces with the Jews of old ; with 
their quaint, Eastern costumes; with their hard faces 
and beaming eyes. There they sit, rising tier above tier. 

Now, on this low bank, not far from us, stands the 
preacher in the midst of a great concourse of people. 
Every ear is all attention, every eye is fixed on the 
preacher. See ! his bosom heaves, his face glows, his 
eyes sparkle, his words burn. His sentences strike, 
swift and glittering, like lightning flashes midst the 
roll of judgment-day thunders. Terrors of the day of 
wrath roll over his hearers as the foremost thought; 



150 JORDAN. 

sounds of hope break in, like soft music, to keep the 
oontrite from despair. The moral world seems to shake. 
The people realize as never before their sin, their guilt, 
their need of a Savior. In their hearts they want, they 
yearn for, the promised Messiah. 

Now, lifting his eyes above the motley multitude, 
John beholds a strange personage coming toward him. 
Rough and rugged, bold and heroic, John is not a man 
to shrink from his fellows. He is no reed to be shaken 
by the wind. But, see ! he trembles as the stranger ap- 
proaches. Spiritual greatness wears a kingly crown 
which compels instant reverence. John, a moment ago 
iis bold as a lion, is now as meek as a lamb. Shrinking 
from the new-comer, he says, ^^ I have need to be bap- 
tized of Thee, and comest thou to me ?'^ Jesus, answer- 
ing, said unto him, ^^ Suffer it to be so now, for thus it 
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." 

Then leading Jesus down into the river he baptizes 
Him ; and immediately the heavens are opened, the Spirit 
of God, like a dove, descends and lights upon Him. There 
is the Son with the Spirit resting upon His head, and, 
lo! a voice from heaven, saying, '^ This is my beloved 
Son in whom I am well pleased.'^ The vast multitude 
who witness this strange sight are deeply moved — they 
are profoundly impressed. What means this strange 
baptism, this descent of the Spirit, this voice of God? 
What means it all ? Who is this new-comer ? John 
answers by pointing to Jesus and saying, ^' Behold the 
lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.'' 
As if to say, " This is He of whom Moses and the phrop- 
ets did write — of whom I have told you, and before 
whom every earthly monarch shall bow." This day 



JORDAN. 151 

have tlie people witnessed one of the most wonderfal 
events in the history of the world — a direct manifesta- 
tion of the Triune God. There has this day begun an. 
agitation and stir among the people that shall -end in a 
tragedy on Calvary. 

These scenes have made the Jordan a sacred river. 
Prom the days of Constantine_, to bathe or to be baptized 
in this river has been regarded a great privilege. We 
are told that '' in the sixth century marble steps led, 
down into the water on both sides, at the spot where it 
is believed our Lord was baptized, while a wooden cross 
rose in the middle of the stream.^' 'Nor has reverence 
for this river diminished — on the contrary it seems to 
have increased. Each year, during the week preceding 
Easter Sunday, thousands and thousands of people, from 
all parts of the world, assemble in Jerusalem, and pitch 
their tents on the surrounding hills. They continue to 
come until the hills round about Jerusalem look like 
one far-reaching city of many-colored tents. 

Easter Sunday, with its strange ceremonies and joyous 
songs, is over. Monday morning, bright and early, 
there is great bustle and confusion in the camp. Every 
tent is folded. Camels, mules, and donkeys, are packed, 
ready for travel. The people mount — sometimes whole 
families of five or six on one camel. Some of the num- 
ber stride the animal, while others are suspended in bas- 
kets, which are tied together, and hang on either side. 
Leaving Jerusalem, the pilgrims, in one great caravan, 
under the protection of the Turkish government, start 
out for the " Sacred E-iver.^' The Kedron Valley, and 
the side of the Mount of Olives, are filled with inhab- 
itants of Jerusalem and the surrounding villages, who 
11 



152 JORDAN. 

have come out to see the aQiiual procession pass. On 
they go, an escort of Turkish soldiers, with a white 
flag and sweet music, leading the way; then come camels 
and asses, laden with pilgrims of every age and condition, 
of every clime and country, clad in costumes of every 
variety of cut and color, while a second group of sol- 
diers, with the green standard of the prophet, closes the 
long procession. 

As the shadows of evening begin to fall, the pilgrims 
pitch their tents by Elisha's Fountain in the plain of 
Jericho. At night the whole plain is dotted with cheer- 
ful camp-fires. Gathering here, in groups of two or 
three hundred, the people engage with great enthusiasm 
in a weird kind of ceremony which is to prepare them 
for the next day. At a late hour they fall asleep. 

The scene that follows their waking is vividly de- 
scribed by Lieut. Lynch, of the United States Navy. 
He says : " At 3 A. M. we were aroused by the intelli- 
gence that the pilgrims were coming. Rising in haste, 
we beheld thousands of torchlights, with a dark mass 
beneath, moving rapidly over the hills. Striking our 
tents with precipitation, we hurriedly removed them, 
and all our effects, a short distance to the left. We had 
scarce finished when they were upon us — men, women, 
and children, mounted on camels, horses, mules and 
donkeys, rushed impetuously by toward the bank. They 
presented the appearance of fugitives from a routed army. 

^^ Our Bedouin friends here stood us in good stead — 
sticking their tufted spears before our tents, they mounted 
their steeds and formed a military cordon around us. But 
for them we should have been run down, and most of our 
effects trampled upon, scattered and lost. In all the 



JORDAN. 153 

•wild haste of a disorderly rout, Copts and Russians, 
Poles, Armenians, Greeks and Syrians, from all parts of 
Asia, from Europe, from Africa, and from far-distant 
America, on they came; men, women and children, of 
every age and hue, and in every variety of costume^ 
talking, screaming, shouting, in almost every known 
language under the sun. 

^^ Mounted as variously as those who had preceded 
them, many of the women and children were suspended 
in baskets or confined in cages; and, with their eyes 
strained toward the river, heedless of all intervening ob- 
stacles, they hurried eagerly forward, and dismounting 
in haste and disrobing with precipitation, rushed down the 
bank, and threw themselves into the stream. Each one 
plunged himself, or was dipped by another, three times, 
below the surface, in honor of the Trinity ; and then 
filled a bottle, or some other utensil, from the river. 
The bathing-dress of many of the pilgrims was a white 
gown with a black cross upon it. 

" In an hour they began to disappear ; and in less time 
than three hours the trodden surface of the lately crowded 
bank reflected no human shadow. The pageant disap- 
peared as rapidly as it had appproached, and left to us 
once more the silence and the solitude of the wilderness. 
It was like a dream. An immense crowd of human be- 
ings, said to be eight thousand, but I thought not so 
many, had passed and repassed before our tents, and left 
not a vestige behind them.'' 

These pilgrims come in such haste and confusion that 
frequently some of their number are drowned ; and yet 
so great is the fanatical enthusiasm of the crowd that 
little or no concern is awakened by the ill-timed death 



154 JORDAN. 

of the unfortunates. The usual bathing-dress is a long-/ 
loose-flowing, white gown. After bathing, the pilgrims 
carefully fold up these robes, thus consecrated, and carry 
them home with them to far-distant lands, in different 
parts of the world, and use them as burial shrouds. 

I have never seen a better place for bathing and swim- 
ming. From the west side one wades down into the 
river, getting deeper and deeper the farther he goes from 
the bank. When about half way across, the water be- 
comes too deep for wading, and close to the eastern bank, 
it is so deep that one can hardly dive to the bottom. 
One finds water of any depth from two to twelve feet. 
The bottom, being composed of sand and smooth rock, 
is all that could be desired. We are so delighted to be 
here that we hardly know how to leave. We remain, 
day after day, reading, fishing, and swimming. We catch 
several messes of sweet, fresh fish, and fry and eat them 
on the banks of the stream. 

Having spoken somewhat at length about that place 
in the Jordan where it is supposed, wdth reasonable cer- 
tainty^ the Savior was baptized, and which is also the 
bathing place of the pilgrims, I proceed now to describe 
the river from one end to the other. But, before speak- 
ing of the river proper, I desire to say something con- 
cerning the Ghor, or valley of the Jordan. 

Beginning at the upper end of the Dead Sea, the Jor- 
dan Valley extends one hundred and ten miles directly 
northward. It varies from three to ten miles in width, and 
has an average width of six miles. Now this valley, one 
hundred and ten miles long and six miles wide, is shut in 
on the east and west by great walls of rock. The east- 
ern bluff is bolder than the one on the west — that is, it 



JORDAN. 155 

is more nearly perpendicular. It is also more regular as 
to altitude, the height ranging probably from 1,800 to 
2,000 feet. The western wall, though less regular than 
the other, is sometimes as precipitous, and has some 
peaks that are as high, if not higher. 

The entire valley is very deep, its northern end being 
seven hundred feet lower than the Mediterranean, while 
its southern end is sis hundred feet lower still. The 
whole valley is therefore one vast inclined plane, sloping 
from north to south. Through this valley, somewhat 
nearer to the eastern than to the western side, the Jor- 
dan winds it serpentine path. 

The river has its source in three bold springs near the 
upper end of the valley. One of these springs bursts 
forth from the side of Mount Hermon 2,200 feet above 
the Mediterranean ; a second strong spring gushes out 
from under a bold rock-cliff at Csesarea Philippi. 
These two springs are on the eastern side of the valley, 
while the third, Avhich is of itself a small river, issues 
from the foot of the western hills, near the city of Dan. 
All of these fountains are large and beautiful. All ot 
them send forth copious streams of fresh and sparkling 
water. Any one of them could run a half dozen mills 
or factories, or irrigate the whole valley. These crystal 
waters, after flowing gently, and sometimes rushing 
madly, along their separate courses, unite for the first 
time in the little Lake of Huleh, or the waters of Merom, 
as it is often called. 

Huleh, about two by four miles, is in the southern end 
of an exceedingly rich and fertile plain. In this plain, 
and around these waters, Joshua had some of his hard- 
est fought battles. Leaving this lake, the waters flow 



156 JORDAN 

rapidly through a narrow, rocky gorge for eleven miles, 
and then empty into 'the sea of Galilee, which is in 
round numbers, 700 feet lower than the surface of the 
Mediterranean. Remember, one spring came out from 
Hermon's side 2,200 feet above the Mediterranean. In 
the short distance of thirty six miles, therefore, the 
waters have fallen 2,900 feet ! 

The Jordan proper is the stream connecting the sea 
of Galilee and the Dead Sea. These seas are only sixty- 
five miles apart ; but the river, as if reluctant to enter 
that bitter sea of Death, winds and twists so like a ser- 
pent that the water, in going from one sea to the other, 
flows two hundred miles, and empties at last into the 
Dead Sea, 1,300 feet below the Mediterranean. 

The Jordan has three sets of banks, which are marked 
with more or less distinctness according as the hills ap- 
proach near to, or recede from, the river. Ordinarily, 
of course, the stream is confined within the lower banks; 
but during the annual rise the water overflovrs these 
lower banks, and spreads out over the valley between 
the second terraces or banks. No important tributaries 
are received from the west; but the Hieromax and 
the Jabbox, each a small river, empty into the Jordan 
from the east. The river is crossed by four well-known 
fords: one just below the sea of Galilee, another just 
above the mouth of the Jabbox ; the third and fourth 
are respectively above and below the pilgrims' bathing 
place, which is about two and a-half miles north of the 
Dead Sea. No bridge spans the river at present, but the 
remains of old Roman bridges may still be seen at some 
of the fords. 

In some places the channel of the river is shut in by 



JORDAN. 157 

rock banks, steep and precipitous. At others, the banks 
are of sand or rich earth, and rise only a few feet above 
the surface of the water. Sometimes one bank is a bold 
rock cli-ff, rising abruptly, while the other slopes np 
gently from the river, and stretches out to join the fer- 
tile plain. 

Since the Jordan has its source in a fountain bursting 
out of a mountain side 2,200 feet above the Mediterra- 
nean, and since it empties into the Dead Sea 1,300 feet 
below the Mediterranean, a great many people falsely 
conclude that the river must, of necessity, be very swift. 
I grant that this seems a strong argument. Think of a 
river 136 miles long having a fall of 3,500 feet. The 
natural supposition is that such a stream would be ex- 
<3cedlngly swift. But not so. The facts will not bear 
out the supposition. To be swift, a stream must have 
not only a great fall, but it must also have a compara- 
tively straight channel. The Jordan is probably the 
most crooked river on earth. In a space of sixty-five 
miles of latitude, and five or six miles of longitude, it 
traverses at least two hundred miles. In some places, 
to be sure, the current is swift, as there are thirty or 
more falls, or rapids, in the Jordan. Some of these are 
quite marked, while others are less so. While near 
these falls, the stream is swift. In other places the water 
is deep, and moves sluggishly. 

In speaking of the velocity of the Vv^ater, it might be 
well to mention that a few years ago Lieutenant Lynch, 
under appointment of the United States government, 
navigated the river from one end to the other. He met 
with many difficulties and some dangers. Shooting the 
rapids was perilous work. One of his boats was dashed 



158 JORDAN. 

against the rocks and went to pieces. Lieutenant Lynches 
official report to the United States Navy Department is 
the fullest, most accurate, and reliable description of the 
Jordan that has ever been published in this country. 

Ao'ahi. Inasmuch as the Jordan rises in the mount- 
ains, and is constantly fed by the melting snows of Her- 
mon, some philosophical students have argued that the 
water must necessarily be quite cold at all times. But 
a few facts are worth a cart-load of theories. And, as a 
matter of fact, the water of the Jordan is not cold, ex- 
cept during the winter season ; and even then the tem- 
perature is by no means low. I bathed in the Jordan 
repeatedly; once as late as the 15th of December, and 
the water Vv^as even then of a delightful temperature 
for bathing. 

The river valley is so deeply depressed that scarcely a 
breath of air is felt during the hot season. On this 
point, Dr. Geikie says : '' The heat of the Jordan plains 
is very great in summer, and oppressive even in spring, 
while in autumn it becomes very unhealthy for strangers. 
In May, the thermometer ranges from about eighty-six 
degrees in the early forenoon to over one hundred degrees 
in the beginning of afternoon, standing, even in the 
shade, at over ninety degrees.'' Having given the re- 
sults of my own observation in winter, and of Dr. 
Geikie's in spring, I may add that the annual mean tem- 
perature of the lower Jordan valley is between seventy 
and seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. From the above 
facts, the reader will readily see that it is quite impossi- 
ble for a stream flowing through this valley ever to reach 
a very low temperature. 

The stream is from seventy-five to three hundred feet 



JORDAN. W^ 

wide, and probably has an average depth of six and 
a-half feet or more, even daring the dry season. At 
some places, however, the depth is much greater than 
this. Here and there, islands, robed in garments of liv- 
ing green, and decked v/ith flowers of every hue, float, 
fairy-like, upon the bosom of the river. 

The terraces along the river are frequently one mass 
of vegetation. The weeping- willow grows on the banks, 
and dips her flowing tresses in the sacred stream. As 
one follows the windings of the historic river, his way is 
continually cheered by the gushing sound of some crystal 
rivulet, by the beauty and fragrance of the flowers, by 
the eight and song of birds. The tangled vine, the mat- 
ted cane, the thick-growing forest trees, of considerable 
size, and a great variety of undergrowth, form a general 
rendezvous for wild animals, and a perfect paradise for 
birds. Hyenas, tigers, wild boars and bears abound 
here, especially on the eastern side of the river. Here 
hawks, herons, pigeons, ducks, doves and swallows build 
their nests and raise their young. Here, also, the bulbul 
and the nightingale sing their songs of praise. 



i60 ^NON, 



CHAPTEE Y. 

JSNON — WAS THERE WATER ENOUGH TO IMMERSE A 

PERSON ? 

[By Rev. W. A, WHITTLE, Louisville, Ky.] 

^Enon can be reached most conveniently from She- 
chem, but before starting out for that place of ^^much 
water," let us spend a few moments together in this 
ancient city. 

Shechem, now called Nablus, the New City, is situated 
in one of the best watered, and consequently one of the 
prettiest, valleys in Palestine. This green and fruitful 
valley lies between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, which run 
east and west, and rise some 2,700 feet above the sea. 
At present, Nablus has about 8,000 inhabitants. From 
an historical stand-point, it is scarcely less interesting 
than Jerusalem. It is with reluctance, therefore, that I 
refrain from giving a description of Shechcm, and a brief 
sketch of its history; but to do so would be foreign to the 
aim and purpose of the present paper. I may be permit- 
ted, however, to remind the reader that when Abraham 
was called out of Ur, into the Land of Promise, he 
'^ passed through the land unto the place of Sichem (She- 
chem), and here builded an altar unto the Lord." When 
Jacob had been twenty years in Mesopotamia, working 
for a pair of wives, his heart turned again toward his 
native land. On re-entering the country, he came at 
once to Shechem, and here ^^ builded an altar unto the 
Lord." 



H 
I 
m 

z 
O 




^NON. 161 

After their deliverance from four hundred years of 
Egyptian bondage, and after wandering forty years in 
the wilderness, the children of Israel crossed into Ca- 
naan, and began at once to fight their way to Shechem. 
Reaching here, they ^^builded an altar unto the Lord/' 

Here it was that Joshua and his brave followers held 
a national consecration meeting. The people arranged 
themselves in this lovely valley while from the hill-sides 
above, the priests read the law of the blessings and curses. 
So, three times on entering and re-entering the promised 
land, the representative of God's chosen people came 
direct to Shechem and builded an altar unto the Lord. 

I am a B^tist,* but I see no just reason why that 
-should debar me of the privilege of saying, by way ot 
parenthesis, that the only Baptist Church in Palestine 
and Syria is here in Shechem. A fourth "altar has been 
built unto the Lord.'' The God of Abraham, of Jacob, 
and Joshua, is also the God of Rev. El. Kary and his 
faithful few. In this city of Shechem the fires of love 
still burn brightly upon the altars of devotion. In Mount 
Ebal, Joshua set up a memorial stone. In Mount Geri- 
zim, the Samaritans built their national temple. The 
one is now in ruins, and the other is not to be found; but 



■■■■ Had lie not been a Baptist, would he have been at the trouble 
of searching out these springs, and settling forever the question of 
*'much water" at JSnon? Why has no Pedobaptist explorer dis- 
covered this sacred water? Why not Dr. Eobinson ? 

I will freely acknowledge the debt of gratitude Elder Whittle 
has laid upon the Baptists, which they can in part discharge by 
securing, each one for himself, his charming and valuable book on 
Palestine and Travels in the East. His two sketches in this book 
are fair samples of his style. To no tourist of Palestine are Bap- 
tists more indebted than to Elder Whittle. 



162 iENON. 

in the valley the altar still stands, and thankful hearts 
daily offer grateful praise to the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

The valley of Shechem is about a mile in length and 
half a mile wide. After running parallel to each other 
for a mile or more, Mounts Ebal and Gerizim turn ab- 
ruptly to the north and south, leaving a broad, rich and 
open plain east of their round shoulders. Just here, 
where the narrow valley of Shechem opens out into the 
fertile plain of Moreh, are two objects of great interest 
to all Christian people — viz : Jacob's well and Joseph's 
tomb. It was on the curb of this well that Jesus sat and 
" told the woman all things that she ever did." From 
this well He drew up those blushing goblets of truth 
which have come along down the ages, quenching spirit- 
ual thirst, and springing up into everlasting life. This 
well, dug by Jacob and visited by Jesus, still exists. 
]Mone doubts, no one can doubt, its identity. The well 
is circular in shape, seven and a-half feet in diameter, 
and sinks through the limestone rock to a depth of sev- 
enty-five or eighty feet. 

About two hundred yard's north of Jacob's well, at 
the edge of the plain at the base of Mount Ebal, is 
Joseph's tomb. " The bones of Joseph, which the chil- 
dren of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in 
Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought ol 
the sons of Hamar, the father of Shechem, for an hun- 
dred pieces of silver." 

I should not have lingered so long in this happy valley 
had I not fallen into the wells of thoughts and stumbled 
over the bones of past ages. With the warp of history 
and the woof of the Bible, fancy's loom has woven a 



^'ENOX. 1G3 

$yolden web which entangles our feet and holds us cap- 
tives. But we must snap the cords that bind us to the 
valley of Shechem, and turn our faces toward ^non, 
near to Salem, where John once baptized. 

The dim bridle-path that our donkey is to follow hugs 
the eastern shoulders of Mount Ebal. With our faces 
turned toward the north, we travel two miles, while the 
plain of Moreh stretches away, broad and level, on the 
right, and Mount Ebal rises up abruptly on the left hand. 
Our road skirts the edge of the plain and the base of the 
mountain. When we have come about a mile and a-half 
from Jacob's well, we look across the plain to our right, 
and see Salem, only a mile from us. 

This Arab village has seen its best days. Its black 
tents and dingy rock houses have no especial charms for 
us. We are thirsty, so we press on tov/ard ^non, near 
to Salem, because there is much water there. 

When we have followed our blind path for a mile far- 
ther, it crosses a deep ravine, known as Wady Bedan. 
As our donkeys stop to drink, we are attracted by the 
roar of water, and the rush of machinery. The noise is 
explained when we see four mills — two above and two 
just below the road. A short distance, probably two 
miles, below these mills, Y/ady Bedan unites with an- 
other whose supply of water is even greater than its own. 
The ravine now takes an eastern course, and is known 
as Wady Farah. The channel is narrow, the banks are 
high and in many places perpendicular. There are many 
places along this ravine where the water is of sufficient 
depth for bathing purposes; but not until we have gone 
about three miles below where the two ravines come 
together do we find all the condition^ necessary to a ban- 



164 ^NON. 

tismal scene. The deep banks disappear; the stream 
now comes back to the surface, and the gently rising 
banks stretch out into plains, and stretch away beauti- 
fully toward the north and south. The plains are dotted 
over with the ever-present olive, and the on-flowing 
stream is fringed with blooming oleanders. Here is 
everything necessary to John's baptism — much water 
and ample room to accommodate the vast multitude who 
flocked to hear him. If the bold prophet had searched 
the whole country, from Dan to Beersheba, he could 
have found no place more suitable to administer that 
sacred rite which so beautifully sets forth the death, burial 
and resurrection of our Lord. 

Thus far, I simply endeavored to show that the physi- 
cal conditions of this place are in every way suitable to 
Bible baptism ; in other words, I have endeavored to 
show that Nature has so arranged this place that John 
could have baptized here. I shall now proceed to show 
that history makes it probable, if not certain, that John 
did baptize here. 

Moved by a spirit of fairness and candor in this mat- 
ter, I shall introduce the testimony of those persons 
whose word ought to be authority on this subject. 

Euscbius, who was born at Cffisarea, in Palestine, about 
the year 265 A. D., and who enjoyed the enviable repu- 
tation of being the most ^^ learned man of his time,'' and 
who is known as the Father of Ecclesiastical History, 
speaks of the scene of John's baptism. 

Jerome, who followed in the immediate wake of Euse- 
bius, and who spent many years of his life in Bethlehem, 
and who knew Palestine like a book, from Dan to Beer- 
sheba, shares the opinion of his illustrious predecessor — 



iENON. 1 65. 

that this was the place where the forerunner of Christ 
baptized the multitude. 

It should be remembered that these men lived and 
wrote before there was any dispute as to the mode of 
baptism. They loved the truth /or the truth's saJce. They 
wrote, not as controversialists, or as sectarians, but as 
historians. 

Modern research has failed to make any discoveries 
which would in any wise tend to shake our faith in these 
early statements. On the other hand, the discoveries of 
modern research share in, agree with, and confirm the 
opinion of these early Church fathers. I might name 
Professor McGarvey, of Lexington, Ky.; but he is an 
immersionist, and some might think, and-so-forth. 



im 



^NON. 



CHAPTER VI. 



^NON, NEAB TO SALEM. 

Little Rock, Akk., Dec. 3, 1890. 
J. R. Graves, Memphis, Tenn.: 

Beloved Brother — I am glad to acknowledge the 
receipt of your favor of yesterday. I am rejoiced that 
you have so far recovered as to be able to be at work 
again. I trust that the remaining days of your pilgrim- 
age here will be spent in wielding the pen, for your 
hand hath not forgot its cunning. I trust that you will 
be spared to tell us who are younger of many things 
that you alone can tell. You are better able now to 
write than you ever were before. You have a greater 
fund of information from which to draw, you have a 
larger experience, a deeper insight into human nature, 
and a closer acquaintance with God than you have ever 
had before. Why may not your most far-reaching w^ork 
lie yet before you ? I would not be unappreciative of 
what you have done ; no other man, living or dead, has 
wrought so effectually for the Baptists of the West and 
the world as yourself. I wdll comply, so far as I may 
be able right now, w^ith your reasonable request to give 
you an account of any notable event of my travels (?'. e., 
any interesting incident of his travels in the East). This 
is mailing day. The mustang mailer is keeping up an 
incessant racket just across the thin partition from me. 
My three children — Broadus, Judson, and Mittase (my 
Indian girl, born among the wild Indians, and bearing 
an Indian name), are rapping and chattering like mag- 
pies, and I have not the heart to bid them be quiet. If 
I get things mixed, just attribute it to this confusion. 

I had the pleasure of visiting the baptistery wherein 
Constantine the Great is said to have been baptized. It 



tenon. 167 

is in a building adjacent to St. John Lateran^ Rome. 
The whole building was for the baptistery ; it is circular 
in form, and very ancient. The baptistery proper is 
sixty feet in circumference, and of a uniform depth of 
three feet and three or four inches. It is built of mar- 
ble, and has steps leading down to it from the floor of 
the building. It is railed off, and might now serve for 
an aquarium, or a swimming pool. But when the 
" Church ^' (?) changed the ordinance, the baptistery had 
to be changed also, and so a beautiful font of pure por- 
phyry has been erected in the center of the old bap- 
tistery, out of which the perversion of baptism is 
practiced. The font is very distinguishably of much 
later date than the baptistery. 

I also had the privilege of visiting the catacombs of 
St. Calixtus, on the Appian way, near Rome. In these 
catacombs, the oldest and most noted in Rome, there is a 
very ancient baptistery, in which immersion was prac- 
ticed by our ancient brethren when they fled thither 
from the persecutions of Rome. 

During our travels through Greece we ascertained 
beyond all question the practice of the Greek Church to 
be immersion. We had a long conversation w^ifch an 
educated Greek gentleman in Athens, and he was sur- 
prised at my statement that some people in my country 
claimed that sprinkling and pouring were legitimate 
meanings of haptizo. He said that such meanings were 
impossible, except such sprinkling or pouring were so 
profusely administered as to cause the object so sprinkled 
or poured upon to become completely saturated with the 
water or other element used. 

I made it my particular business, while traveling 
through Palestine — and I spent three months there, 
studying, measuring, investigating and exploring — to 
look into the question of ancient pools. Any ordinary 
traveler through the East will soon learn to distinguish 
between the different styles of architecture, and the 
different markings on the stones, as determining to what 
12 



168 ^NON. 

age such stones belong. A stone carved or hewn by an 
Egyptian, Phoenician^ Greek, Hebrew, Roman, Saracen 
or Turk is as plainly distinguishable as such as are the 
features of these several nationalities different from each 
other. After studying these several features and becom- 
ing quite familiar with them, I set about searching for 
the pools, to determine their date. 

Solomon^s Pools, about two or three miles south of 
Bethlehem, are the most extensive and best preserved of 
any in Palestine. Their dimensions can be ascertained 
from any Bible dictionary. They are built of fine 
stone — a kind of marble — and were repaired by Herod 
Agrippa, since which time they have remained untouched. 
Either of them is large enough to float an ocean steamer, 
and they are yet fine reservoirs, in winter being fairly 
filled with water. 

An amusing, instructive incident occurred while I was 
on my way from Jerusalem to Hebron. You may not 
have seen it as it was published in the Ar-hivsas Baptist, 
and so I repeat it for your use, only should you ever use 
it in print, you v/ill please omit the name of mv friend, 
Professor -- — , D.D., LL.D., of Princeton, N. J. I 

met with Professor in Athens, Greece. He decided 

to accompany me to Palestine and Egypt. We had fre- 
quent friendly discussions as to the differences between 

Baptists and Presbyterians. Professor always had 

the advantage of me in point of scholarship, while I had 
the advantage of him in my acquaintance with the 
English Bible, and ahvays in the configuration of the 

country. It was peculiarly irritative to Professor to 

see me measuring the pools, sounding the streams, etc., 
which I invariably did. The sight of water was un- 
pleasant to the good doctor ; he would not even take it 
at the table, but followed literally Paul's advice to 
Timothy. We had taken the trip through Galilee, had 
gotten soaking wet going, which increased the Profes- 
sor's irritation. We stood at Jacob's well, Avhile 
Brother Kary, the Baptist native preacher at Nablous,. 



^NON. 169 

pointed out to us tlie objects of interest. Professor — — 
was all animation as Joseph^s tomb, the old temple on 
Mt. Gerizim, where the Levites stood on Mt. Ebal, 
where the ark rested midway, and other objects, were 
pointed out. " Over there, across the valley of Salem, 
and ^non just beyond it, where you know there is 
* much water,^ ^^ said Brother Kary. "^ Many waters,' 
the original has it/' quoth the Professor. ^^I'll tell you 
how that is,'' said Brother K. '^ Over yonder at the 
foot of that mountain are a number of springs, very 
bold and excellent water. They come together down 
the valley near ^non, and they form quite a stream. It 
is frequently past fording this time of year, and I have 
baptized there more than oneeP The Professor felt that 
the air was chilly, and he proposed that we should 
return. At Cana of Galilee we came to the fountain 
where doubtless the water was obtained which our Lord 
made wine, and was flowing into a suspicious-looking 
rock basin, about nine feet long by four feet wide and 
three feet deep. While I was taking the dimensions of 
this pool the Professor caught the rickets, and wanted to 
go on. At the beautiful sea of Galilee I remarked that 
here was surely sufficient water for all practical purposes. 
We v/ent together to the old town of Hebron, the 
ancient home of Abraham. As we journeyed we passed 
the noted pools of Solomon, of which I have already 
spoken. I here descended into an old well of a looking 

place, much to the disgust of Professor , but there 

I found the veritable sealed fountain spoken of in the 
songs of Solomon. Later on our way we fell to dis- 
coursing on the localities through which we were passing, 
and then the driver informed us that we were near the 
place where Phillip baptized the eunuch. The Professor 
looked out on the bleak and barren-desert looking place, 
and remarked : " Yes ; this is just about such a place." 
Taking a map from his pocket he noticed that this w^as 
about on a line from Samaria, where Phillip Avould have 
intercepted the eunuch on his way from Jerusalem to- 



170 ^NON. 

Gaza. It was a chariot road, and this was the only way 
that a chariot could go from Jerusalem to Gaza, unless 
they should go via the Joppa road, which Avas very 
much out of the way. These mountains had always 
been there, and were scarcely accessible for horseback 
riding, much less chariot driving. ^^ Yes; this is just 
about the place — a desert place, too ; and now,'' con- 
tinued the Professor, triumphantly looking around, 
" where is your water to baptize a man? Now, there in 
that rock is water enough fallen during the night in 
which to baptize a man decently, as we believe it ; but 
where would you immerse a man here ? You will have 
to give up that where Phillip baptized the eunuch there 
is no possibility of immersion.'' I was feeling a little 
uneasy, as the place was truly a desert-looking place, 
and there was not the least appearance of water. He 
seemed to enjoy my confusion, and pressed his point 
mercilessly. ''You will have to give it up." Just at 
that most opportune moment I heard the bleating of a 
lamb, and on looking out I saw, to my joy, that we 
were approaching a pool. " Are you sure that this is 

the place?" said I (Professor had not seen the 

pool). ''It must be," said he, "this is just about the 
place, and, besides, it corresponds so well with the Bible 
description. Then tradition comes in as collateral evi- 
dence, so that we may be morally certain that this is the 
place. Now, what if I wanted to be baptized, what 
would you do to baptize me the way you so strenuously 
contend to be the only way ?" Just then we rounded by 
the pool, and I laid my hand on his shoulder, and, point- 
ing to the pool, said, " See, here is water ; what doth 
hinder thee?" A clap of thunder from a clear sky 
would not have been more surprising to the Professor, 
who stammered, gazed, and turned red, and finally said, 
" Well, this is very unfortunate." " It is quite fortu- 
nate," I replied, " to see how completely God is answering 
your objections to His ordinance." After that the sub- 
ject became so unpleasant that I had to change it. 



tEnon. 171 

Yet, when we returned to Jerusalem, and as we were 
visiting the tombs of the kings on one occasion, I 
noticed that at the bottom of a flight of steps there was 
a beautiful baptistery — -just the most complete thing I 

had hitherto seen in that line. Professor had not 

followed me down, but when he saw me leaning over 
the side, as if I w^ere surveying something of interest, he 
came down. I looked down into the clear waters, at 
the steps which lead down into it, and then looked up 
at the Professor a little quizically, and with a twinkle of 
the eye which had its meaning. " Doctor Holt,'' broke 
in the Professor, ^^you seem to be intent on pushing this 
matter of the baptismal controversy on me to unpleas- 
antness." " No,'' I replied, " I have been amused at 
your impatience when, time after time, the configuration 
of the country, as well as the word of God, has been 
against your position. But, as you seem to be irritated 
over the matter, I promise you that I shall not say 
another word about it. I beg your pardon for my seem- 
ing lack of Christian courtesy." '^ It is my right to 
apologize," spoke out the generous Professor; "I am 
the one v/ho has been ungenerous. And now I had as 
well say it as think it : I find abundant evidence here 
in this country to justify your idea of baptism ; and, 
further, though my denomination may not fully agree 
with me in the assertion, I know Greek too well for me 
to not know that the original meaning of the word for 
baptism not only admits immersion, but prefers it — if, 
indeed, it admits of anything else." We clasped hands 
good friends for these candid admissions, and were, until 

the departure of Professor from Palestine, the best 

of friends. 

While standing on the bank of the Jordan wdth Mr. 
T. J. Alley, a Methodist of prominence and piety, from 
Oregon, and watching the stream in its deep and steady 
flow, he remarked, reflectively, " J^o man can hold to 
sprinkling in the presence of this stream." 

I suppose I might as well tell you of his baptism. 



172 iENON. 

It was while walking through old Samaria that ho first 
asked baptism at my hands. He had heard all the con- 
troversy between myself and Professor -. Yf hile 

we were climbing the Horns of Hattin — the Mount of 
Beatitudes — he said that he was convinced that the Bap- 
tists were right on baptism; but he stumbled over com- 
munion. I then took patient pains to go over the v/hole 
ground of the relation of baptism to the Lord's supper, 
and the significance of the latter ordinance. He said noth- 
ing at that time about being convinced, but on our return, 
at Samaria, he asked baptism at my hands. We slept that 
night beneath the roof of Brother Kary, the pastor of 
the Baptist Church at ISTablos. There I carefully laid 
the matter before Brother Kary, and received from the 
Church authority to baptize Brother Alley. On the 9th 
day of March, 1890, we stood beside that beautiful, his- 
toric stream, and sang '' On Jordan's Stormy Banks,'' 
and then I read the account of the baptism of our Lord 
in that same stream, and, as near as could be ascertained, 
at that very spot. We then knelt in prayer in the pres- 
ence of our little company of natives and our traveling 
companion, Mr. A. J. Jordan, of St. Louis ; then I led 
down into the water that old man, who had spent the 
flower of his life in a vain attempt to reconcile his con- 
science with the traditions of men for the command- 
ments of God. Looking up into the same skies whence 
had descended the dove — from whence had fallen the 
voice of Jehovah — I invoked the blessing of Him who 
had commanded this ordinance, and had submitted to it, 
and W^ho had said, " Thug it becometh us to fulfill all 
righteousness," and then, as gently as a tender mother 
lays her sleeping babe to its cradle, as reverently as we 
lower our beloved dead into the tomb, I buried beneath 
the crystal waves of the Jordan this happy believer in 
Christ, with his hands clasped upon his bosom, and his 
silvery hair a crown of glory floating about his head. It 
was a melting scene. Mr. Jordan wept, and the dusky 
Arabs were reverently tender, and all shook hands with 



^NON. 173 

US as we came up from the water. Brother T. J. Alley, at 
this writing, is still in Jerusalem, a self-supporting mis- 
sionary ; you can write to him for particulars ol life and 
customs among the modern inhabitants of Jerusalem. 
But 1 have already said more than you asked, or than 
I had an idea of giving. You can use it all or any 
part of it which you may select, only, for tlie sake of 

the feelings of Professor , do not mention his name ; 

he is sensitive about the use of his name ; vvhen he 
and I called on Mr. Stanley, in Cairo, he asked me not 
to report to the papers his name in connection with the 
interview. May the Lord grant you great blessings and 
abundant grace. 

Your grateful friend and brother, 

A. J. Holt. 



PART III. 



Infant Baptism Unscriptural 



(175) 



INFANT BAPTISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 177 



CHAPTER I. 



INFANT BAPTISINI 



Axiom — Expressio unus est exdusio alienus. The specification of 
^ne thing is the prohibition of every other. 

THIRTY-FOUR LOGICAL ARGUMENTS. 

Christ positively forbade Ivfant Baptism. j for He speci- 
fied believers as the subjects. 

Argument I. — 1. Positive ordinances or institutions 
of Christianity require, in all cases, positive commands. 

2. The baptism of unconscious infants, which is a 
positive ordinance, is nowhere commanded in the Word 
of God. 

3. Therefore, infant baptism is not an institution of 
Christianity. 

Dr. F. Schleiermacher (Lutheran) : ^^ All traces of 
infant baptism which one will find in the New Testament 
must first be put into itJ^ — Christ. Theol., p. 383. 

Argument II. — 1. That rite or ordinance is evi- 
dently not an institution of Christianity, but a human 
tradition, of which, confessedly by all, no clear example 
«can be found in the Word of God. 

2. But there can be no example of infant baptism 
found in the Word of God. 

3. ErgOy infant baptism is evidently not an institu- 
tion of Christianity, but a human tradition. 



178 INFANT BAPTISM 

Argument III. — 1. That rite, for which there is no 
express command, or undoubted example of, to be found 
in the INew Testament or Bible, is evidently not of God, 
but a human tradition. 

2. But there can be neither an express command for, 
nor an undoubted example of, infant baptism found in 
the Word of God. 

3. Ergo, infant baptism is not of God, but a human 
tradition. 

Argument IV. — 1. If there was one precept for, or 
example of, infant baptism in the Bible, the supporters of 
the practice could and would have found it in the course 
of fourteen hundred years, and the most distinguished 
scholars and advocates would not frankly admit there 
was neither. 

2. But they have not found the precept or example, 
and their standard scholars and advocates frankly admit 
that neither the one nor the other can be found in the 
Word of God. 

3. Ergo, the Word does not contain either precept 
for, or example of, infant baptism. 

Limborch : '^ There is no express command for it in 
Scripture; nay, all those passages wherein baptism is 
commanded do immediately relate to adult persons, since 
they are ordered to be instructed, and faith is prerequi- 
site as a necessary qualification. There is no instance 
that can be produced from which it may indisputably be 
inferred that any child was baptized by the apostles. '^ — 
C;)in. Sys. of Div., b. v, c, xxii, §2. 



UNSCRIPTUEAL. 179 

Argument V. — 1. If none are to be baptized by the 
authority of the great commision (Matt xxviii), which 
IS the only law of baptism, but such as are made disci- 
ples by being taught ; 

2. Then, as unconscious infants are incapable of be- 
ing taught, 

3, They ought not to be baptized 

Argument VI. — 1. If there be but one way for all, 
both parents and children, Jews and Gentiles, to be ad- 
mitted into the gospel Church, and that is upon the prp- 
fession of their personal faith in Christ and baptism, 
then should neither parent nor child, to the end of time, 
be admitted in any other way. 

2. But there is but one way. 

3. Therefore no man, Avoman,,or child was ever nat- 
urally born into Christ^s Church; which is fatal to the 
whole theory of infant baptism. 

Argument VII. — 1. Whatever practice adds the 
unsaved to the Church of Christ, is subversive of it, and 
is not of God. 

2. Infant baptism does this; for, according to the 
teachings of the Discipline and the Presbyterian Con- 
fession of Faith, all infants are born depraved, the 
children of wrath, and they continue in this state until 
regenerated by the Spirit of God. While in this state 
they are unsaved. 

3. Therefore, the practice of infant baptism is sub- 
versive of the Church of Christ, and is not of God. 

Argument YIII. — 1. Whatever practice reflects 
upon the honor, wisdom, or faithfulness of Jesus Christ, 



180 INFANT BAPTISM 

or renders Him less faithful in His Church than Moses 
was in his house, and makes one of the great ordinances 
of God's "Word to lie more obscure in the 'New Testa- 
ment than any law or precept in the Old Testament, cm 
not be of God. 

2. To suppose that infant baptism is a Christian duty, 
is to reflect upon the honor, wisdom, and faithfulness of 
Jesus Christ ; for if it is an ordinance of Christ, and its 
supporters can not find it commanded or exampied, re- 
warded or punished in God's Word, it certainly makes 
Christ less faithful than Moses; for Moses left not one 
of the least of all the ordinances or rites of the law, 
dark, or in the least difficult to be understood, whether 
an ordinance or not. But the Holy Spirit expressly 
declares, that Christ was more faithful than Moses. 

3. ErgOy the institution of infant baptism (a law or ex- 
ample for which Pedobaptists confess they can not find, 
and concerning its use differ so generally among them- 
selves), is no ordinance of Christ, and per consequence, 
can not be of God. 

• Argument IX. — 1. Whatever theory opens the door 
of all the corruptions that characterize the great apos- 
tasy, such as the adulterous union of the Church and 
State, human priests, literal sacrifices, sacraments, etc., is 
manifestly opposed to the teachings of the Word of God, 
and subversive of the Church of Christ. 

2. The theory upon which Pedobaptists introduce 
unregenerate children into the Church of Christ — i. e., 
the identity of the old Jewish commonwealth with the 
Christian Church — manifestly does open wide the door 
to Church and State, a human priesthood, etc. 



UNSCEIPTURAL. 181 

3. Therefore, the theory by which Pedobaptists intro- 
duce unregenerated children into the Church of Christ 
is opposed to the teachings of the Word of God, and 
subversive of the Church of Christ. 

Akgtjment X. — 1. That practice which opens a door 
to human traditions, additions, changes, or innovations 
in God's worship, is a sin and an abomination in the 
sight of God, and a curse to the world. '* The princi- 
ple,'' says Dr. Owens, ^' that the Church hath power of 
God, either as to matter or as to manner, beyond the 
orderly observance of such circumstances as necessarily 
attend such ordinances as Christ Himself has instituted, 
lies at the bottom of all the horrible superstitions and 
wars that have for so long a season spread themselves 
over the face of the Christian world." 

2. But the practice of infant sprinkling does open a 
wide door to any human tradition, addition, or change 
in the ordinances of God ; for, though it was never in- 
stituted by Christ, the Komanists, who made the change, 
declare, and opened the door to the use of the cross, exor- 
cism, salt, chrism, God-father and God-mother, and 
sponsors, the consecration of the baptismal water, con- 
firmation, the offering of prayers and oblations for the 
dead, the mass, extreme unction, and a host of other in- 
novations. Not even do Catholics, but Protestants — even 
Prof. Stewart himself, who stood for many years at the 
head of all Pedobaptist" writers in America — admit that 
it was instituted by man^ and he defends it upon the 
ground that the Church has a right to change the non- 
essential ordinances, and make them conform to man's 
convenience ! How wide this open door ! for the right 



182 INFANT BAPTISM 

to add one^ implies the right to add or change a thou- 
sand ! There remains no bar to any innovation a cor- 
rupt Church might choose to introduce. 

3. Therefore, the institution of infant baptism is a tra- 
dition of man, a sin, and an abomination in the sight of 
God, and a curse to the Church and the world ; a curse to 
the Church, because it corrupts and carnalizes it ; and to 
the -world, because it teaches men to believe and trust in 
the traditions of men rather than in the commands and 
ordinances of God. 

Argument XI. — 1. The Lord purposed only the 
saved to be added to the Church ; and to add the unsaved 
is to contravene His expressed purpose — " and the Lord 
added to the Church daily the saved.'' Tous soudzomen 
ous — those who are saved (Acts ii, 47). 

2. But living infants and unbelieving children are 
not saved. 

3. Therefore, to add them to the Church is to contra- 
vene the express purpose of God. 

Argument XII. — 1. Whatever practice inverts the 
order of the divine law of baptism is a perversion of 
divine law, and is therefore sinful. 

2. Infant baptism does this by practically putting — in 
direct opposition to what the commission requires — bap- 
tism before faith or teaching. 

3. Therefore, infant baptism is a perversion of divine 
law. 

Argument XIII. — 1. Christ declared that His king- 
dom was not of this world, else His subjects would fight 
for him — i. e., with carnal weapons. 



UNSCRIPTURAL. 183 

2 But the Jewish kingdom was of the world — a 
politico-religious government — andtlie subjects of it did 
fight for their kingdom with carnal weapons. 

3. Ergo J the Jewish kingdom was not the kingdom or 
Church of Christ. 

ApwGUMENT XIV. — 1. Paul said, by the Holy Spirit 
that, " flesh and blood ^^ (carnally-minded men) '^ can not 
legally inherit the kingdom of God.^^ 

2. But ^^ flesh and blood" (carnal men) did legally 
inherit the old Jewish commonwealth. 

3. ErgOy the old Jewish commonwealth was not the 
literal kingdom of God. 

Argument XV. — 1. That which is already in exist- 
ence can not be brought into existence ; and that which 
is already set up, can not be set up. The Church and 
kins^dom of God existed in the davs of Abraham. 

Argument XVI. — 1. If teaching, so as to secure 
repentance and faith, is required by Christ before bap- 
tism, as the most learned and candid of Peclobaptists 
themselves admit, then, to baptize before teaching re- 
pentance and faith, is to alter and pervert the Word of 
God, which is to incur this displeasure of God and en- 
danger the salvation of men. 

2. But all those who practice infant baptism do bap- 
tize before they secure repentance and faith by teaching. 

3. Ergo, they do pervert the Word of God and en- 
danger the salvation of men. 



'O' 



Argument XVII. — 1. If men were not to presume 

to alter anything, however minute, in rites or ceremonies 
13 



184: INFANT BAPTISM 

under the law, Doither to add to nor take from them, 
without incurring the displeasure of God, and if He is 
as strict and jealous of His worship under the gospel, 
then men can not alter by adding to the ordinances, un- 
der the gospel, without incurring the anger and displeas- 
ure of God. 

2. That this is the case, read Rev. xxii, 18. But 
infant baptism was never instituted by express command 
or example, or promise, as all candid Pedobaptists admit ; 
therefore, to practice it as a religious rite, and in the 
name of Christ, is to alter, by adding to His words, and 
to incur the displeasure of God. 

3. ErgOy we are bound to conclude that those Avho do 
so, incur the anger and judgments of God — the plagues of 
the Book will be added to those who do it willingly, or 
wilfully or ignorantly, if they have and can read His 
Word. 

Argument XYIII. — 1. If there be but one baptism 
of water, left by Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and 
but one condition or manner of right thereto, and that 
one baptism is that of an adult, and that one condition 
faith, then to teach and practice two baptisms — one of 
unconscious infants and one of adults — and to make two 
conditions — one of faith, and one without faith — is 
knowingly to alter and pervert, by adding to, the plain 
law of Christ, and can but be impiety and sin in the 
sight of God. 

2. But there is but one baptism of water left by 
Christ in the New Testament, and but one condition or 
manner of right thereto, and that one baptism is that of 
an adult, as Richard Baxter and others are free to admit. 



UNSCRIPTURAL. 185 

He says : " The way of the Lord is one — one Lord, one 
faith, one baptism ; and repentance and faith is the con- 
dition of the adult, and as to any other condition 

I AM SURE THE SCRIPTURE IS SILENT^' And we knoW, 

if we have honesty enough to admit, that wherever the 
Scriptures specifies any one character, or condition, it 
prohibits every other. 

3. Ergo, those who practice infant baptism do make 
two baptisms — one of adults and one of infants ; also, 
two conditions to it — one of faith, and one without faith, 
contravening the command of God, and do thus know- 
ingly alter and add to the Word, which is a sin in the 
sight of God. 

Argument XIX. — 1. Any ordinance that makes 
void the express command of Christ, must be a tradition 
of men — for men^s traditions invariably make void the 
law of God, and are sinful. 

2. But the baptism of all infants, as Pedobaptists 
teach, would make null the command to baptize believers. 

3. Ergo, infant baptism is a human tradition, and 
sinful in the sight of God. 

Argument XX. — 1. Christian Baptism is, in eveay 
case, an act of intelligence and voluntariness. 

2. The baptism of an unconscious infant is an act of 
ignorance and constraint, never of intelligence and vol- 
untariness. 

3. Ergo, infant baptism is in no case Christian bap- 
tism. 

Argument XXI. — 1. Any religious act that is not 
of faith, is displeasing to God. ^' Without faith it is im- 
possible to please God.^' 



186 INFANT BAPTISM 

2. Infant baptism is a religious act tliat is not of faith, 
nor can it be said to be of faitli in either parent or iafant, 
since there is no command for or promise attached to it, 
or knowledge of it on the part of the infant. 

3. Therefore, infant baptism must be displeasing to 
God. 

Argument XXII. — 1. If infant baptism were an 
institution of Christ, for some specific purpose, then 
Pedobaptists could not be at a loss, or would differ aV)out 
the grounds of the right of infants to baptism. 

2. But they are at a great loss, and they can not agree 
either upon what authority to desire it or the purpose for 
which it was given. 

3. Infant baptism is not an institution of Christ. 

Among the many reasons for baptizing an infant I 
notice the following : 

(1) It is to wash away original sin, as Wesley and 
the Methodist Episcopal Church teach. (See Doctrinal 
Tracts ^^ Wesleyana,'' and her Ritual.) 

(2) It is their right by the Abrahamic covenant ; 

(3) They have a right of their own faith superin- 
duced ; 

(4) On the faith of their parents ; 

(5) On the faith of their sureties or sponsors ; 

(6) That the Church can give them the right ; 

(7) On apostolic tradition ; 

(8) On the inferred authority of the Scriptures; 

(9) On the silence of the Scriptures ; 

(10) Because infants of believing parents are born 
pure or holy, and, therefore, entitled to it ; 



UNSCRIPTUBAL. 187 

(11) Because they are born members of the Church, 
and, therefore, entitled to it ; 

(12) Because baptism is a sacrament, a divinely ap- 
pointed means of grace, and should be withheld from 
none, young or old (M. E. Church) ; 

(13) Because it is a seal of the covenant of grace, out 
of which no one can be saved; 

(14) It produces for the child, though unconscious, 
the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and creates it a 
member of Christ, an heir of God, and an inheritor of 
the kingdom of heaven ; 

(16) Because, without it, there is no certain promise 
to any to enter heaven ; 

(16) Because, as Meander teaches, though the Script- 
ures do not enforce it, and are, indeed, silent about it, 
yet it is in accordance with the spirit of Christianity. 

Argument XXIII. — 1. That practice which tends 
neither to glorify God nor to the profit of the child, when 
grown up, but may prove hurtful and endanger his sal- 
vation, can not be of God ; and to teach and practice it, 
is a sin against both God and man. 

2. But infant baptism does not tend to the glory of 
God, for He has nowhere required it, but, by the very 
words of the commission, forbidden it; and how can 
God be glorified by man's disobedience, or by his prac- 
ticing contrary to His Word, or doing what He hath not 
required ! Read Lev. x, 1, 2. Neither does it profit a 
child. The Bible contains no promise to a sprinkled 
child. The advocates of infant sprinkling have been 
searching for it for upward of fifteen centuries in vain. 



188 INFANT BAPTISM 

3. Ergo, we must conclude that infant baptism is not 
of God, and that to teach and practice it, is a sin against 
God and man. 

Argument XXIV. — 1. Whatever rite puts it out of 
the power of a child, when it comes to years of discretion, 
to obey Christ, or obtain the answer of a good conscience, 
is evidently not of God ; for Christ would not make any 
given act a duty and obligatory upon a believer which 
He had contravened, rendered nugatory and impossible, 
by a previous one. 

2. Infant baptism does this. The child that is sprin- 
kled in infancy can not obey Christ in baptism, for his 
parents performed the duty for him. They can repent 
for him as well. If there were none but Pedobaptist 
churches, he never could obey Christ or obtain the an- 
swer of a good conscience. 

3. ErgOy infant baptism can not be of God. 

Argument XXV. — 1. Any religious rite that neces- 
sarily generates in the subject or others wrong notions of 
personal religion, or is calculated to implant unbelief in 
personal religion, is not of God, and is subversive of the 
Christian religion and pernicious to the souls of men. 

2. Infant baptism does this. All Pedobaptist coun- 
tries are proof of it. Every infidel in England, Ger- 
many, Italy, Prussia, or Russia is a member of a Pedo- 
baptist Church. While the overwhelming mass, though 
unregenerated, rely implicitly upon the efficacy of their 
infant baptism to save them, they urge, with reason, that 
they are saved without personal repentance or faith, if 
the teachings of their Church be true. 



UNSCRIPTUEAL. 189 



3. Therefore, infant baptism is not of God, and is sub- 
versive of the Christian religion and pernicious to the 
souls of men. 

Argument XXVI. — 1. If Christ, when He gave the 
commission for baptizing, specified the character to be 
baptized, as the one believing. He forbade the baptism 
of any other. 

2. But He did specify the one believing. 

3. Ergo J He did forbid the baptizing of unbelieving 
infants or adults, bells, horses, etc. 

Argument XXVII. — 1. Christian baptism is, in 
every case, an act o^ personal obedience, A law, and a 
knowledge of it, and volition, are essential to obedience. 

2. Infant baptism is not an act of obedience in any 
sense, since it is nowhere commanded. Since it is no- 
where commanded, there is no law for it, and if there 
were, an infant could have no knowledge of it or volition 
concernina: it. 

3. Therefore infant baptism can not be considered 
Christian baptism in any sense. 

Argument XXVIII. — 1. Christian baptism is, in 
every case, an act of religious worship^ since obedience is 
the highest act of worship. 

2. Infant baptism is in no case an act of worship, be- 
cause not an act of obedience. 

3. Therefore, infant baptism is in no case Christian 
baptism. 

Argument XXIX. — 1. It is sinful to neglect any- 
thing required of God. 



190 INFANT BAPTISM 

2. It is not sinful to neglect infant baptism, says a 
Presbyterian. It Is not sinful to neglect infant baptism. 

3. Tlierefore, infant baptism is not required of God. 

Argument XXX. — 1. Paul shunned not to declare 
the whole counsel of God to the Church at Eohesus. 

2. He did not declare infant baptism to be required 
of God as a religious service or parental duty. 

3. Therefore, infant baptism is not accordincr to the 
counsel or ordination of God. 

Argument XXXI. — 1. If no one were baptized dur- 
ing the apostles' ministry but such as were baptized into 
Christy and thereby ^^ put on Christ '' — i. e., took upon 
themselves, voluntarily, the entire and sole jurisdiction 
of Christ — then infants should not be baptized, for they 
have no faith and can make no profession, and whatever 
they may do, is no act of obedience on their part. 

2. But none were baptized by the apostles, but such as 
were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal. ill, 27). 

3. Therefore, infants should not be baptized. 

Argument XXXII. — 1. None but persons — which 
means accountable beings — are commanded to be bap- 
tized by Christ, or authorized to be by His Word. 

2. The civil law admits that infants are not persons, 
and all know that they are not accountable being?. 

3. Therefore, infant baptism is not authorized by the 
Word of God. 

Argument XXXIII. — 1. A baptism that is not the 
baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins, can 
not be called Christian baptism. 



UNSCRIPTURAL. 191 

2. The baptism of an unconscious babe, is manifestly 
not the baptism of repentance. 

3. Therefore^ infant baptism can not be called Chris- 
tian baptism. 

Argument XXXIY. — 1. That can not be an insti- 
tution of Christ for which there is neither command nor 
example in all God's Word, nor promise to those who 
observe it, nor threatenings to those who neglect it. 

2. But Pedobaptists assert that there is no command 
for or example of infant baptism, and, consequently,, 
there can be no promise to those who observe, or threat- 
enings to those who neglect infant baptism. 



.J 



192 INFANT BAPTISM 



CHAPTER II. 

THE OLD TESTAMENT COVENANT GIVEN UP AS AFFORD- 
ING ANY GROUND FOR INFANT BAPTISM. 

A large number of Pedobaptist polemics insist for no 
better ground tban the covenant which God made with 
Abraham concerning the land of Canaan, saying, " In 
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.^' 
This ground for the practice and church membership, 
more than any other, is more generally relied on for 
Infant Baptism. 

What do the most eminent scholars (Pedobaptists) 
say of it? 

I will give a few of their most distinguished scholars. 

Dr. Alexander, Professor of Princeton Seminary, re- 
viewing Dr. Wardlow^s book on the Covenants in sup- 
port of Infant Baptism, says : ^^ I find nothing in the rea- 
soning of this book that helps me to comprehend. This 
argument from the Abrahamic covenant in favor of infant 
baptism always presents itself to my mind as fallacious. 
If baptism is to be regarded as having come in the place 
of circumcision, the argument from the Abrahamic cov- 
enant lies altogether loith the Baptists,^^ — Life of Dr. W.j 
pp. 237-239. 

Dr. Erskine (Presbyterian) : ^' Baptism has none of 
those properties which rendered circumcision a fit sign and 
seal of an external covenant. Circumcision impressed 
an abiding mark, was the characteristic of Judaism, be- 
longed to all Jews, however diifering in opinion or prac- 



UNSCRIPTURAL. 193 

tice, and those born of a Jew, even when come to age, 
were entitled to it ; whereas baptism impresses a profes- 
sion, a suitable practice, and is the characteristic of Chris- 
tianity. When God promised the land of Canaan to 
Abraham and his posterity, circumcision Y/as instituted 
for thisj among other purposes, to show that descent from 
Abraham was the foundation of his posterity's right to 
these blessings.'' — Theo. Dis., p. 9. 

Dr. Moses Stuart, the most distinguished theological 
Professor at Andover Theological Seminary, says ; " How 
unwary, too, are many excellent men in contending for 
infant baptism on the ground of the analogy of circum- 
cision! Are females not proper subjects of baptism? 
And, again, are a man's slaves to be baptized because he 
is? Are they church members of course when they are 
so baptized? Is there no difference between engrafting 
into Si politico ecclesiastical community and into one which 
it is said it is not of this world? In short, numberless 
difficulties present themselves in our way so soon as we 
begin to argue in such a manner as this." — Old. Tes. Com. 

J. A. James : ^' As to the argument founded upon the 
constitution of the Jewish Theocracy, we consider it so 
irrelevant and inapplicable that the very attempt to bring 
it forward in support of a Christian institute betrays at 
once the weakness of the cause." — On Dis., p. 10. 

Dr. J. Stacy (Methodist) will speak for his people: 
"Baptism and the Lord's Supper * ^ were not 
Jewish, but Christian — not a brief continuation of the 
past, but a regulative commencement of the future. They 
were observed as modified rites of an old, but as distin- 
guishing signs of a new, dispensation." — The Sac, p. 272. 



194 INFANT BAPTISM 

Jacob Ditzlei : ^^ I here express my conviction that 
the covenants oi tlie Old Testament have nothing to do 
with infant baptism/' — See CarroUton Debate j p. 692. 

See Elder D.'s indorsement of the correctness of the 
published debate, on page 3 of the Debate. 

JOHX BAPTIZED NO INFANTS THE NEW TESTAMENT 

GIVEN UP AS AFFORDING ANY GROUND FOR INFANT 
BAPTISM. 

"All attempts to make out infant baptism from the 
"New Testament fail. It is utterly opposed to the apos- 
tolic age and to the fundamental principles of the l^e";^ 
Testament. It can not, in any point of view, be justi- 
fied by the Holy Scriptures." — Dr. Lang (Pedobaptist). 

Bishop Barlow ; " I do believe and know there 
IS neither precept nor example in Scripture for 
Pedobaptism.''— Dr. Wallace's Chr. Bap., p. 59. 

P. Edwards : " There is neither express precept nor ex- 
ample for infant baptism in the New Testament.'' — Can. 
Pev., p. 9. 

Dr. M. Stuart (Congr.) : '• Commands or p^a??i and 
certain examples in the New Testament relative to it, I do 
not find.: ' — On Baptism, p. 201. 

P. Montgomery : " Scripture makes no direct and au- 
thoritative reference to infant baptism at all. It can not 
be shown that Scripture gives any open, plain, and de- 
cisive precept to baptize infants." — The Gospel, in Ad- 
vance, etc., p. 402. 



UNSCRIPTURAL. 195 



CHAPTEK III. 

PEDOBAPTISTS ANSWER THEMSELVES A MOST SINGU- 
LAR ARGUMENT. 

Here is a full and complete surrender of the whole New 
Testament. 

Thus fully is every passage in the New Testament sur- 
rendered as affording no shadow of authority for infant 
baptism. And Dr. Lange, the distinguished Lutheran 
theologian in Germany, declares that infant baptism is 
opposed to the very genius of Christianity and spirit of 
the gospel. What more can Pedobaptists say against it? 

Christ positively forbids the baptism of unconscious 
infants, as he does of all unconscious and inanimate 
beings or things ; while there is not only neither a pre- 
cept for nor an example of infant baptism in the Bible, 
and, therefore, to baptize them in the name of the Trinity 
is to add to His word, and to incur the penalty of suffer- 
ing all the plagues written in the Book. (See Rev. xxi.) 

The great commission (Matt. 28) is admitted by all to 
be the law of Christian baptism. In that law, Christ 
enjoins, in every case, personal faith on Christ before 
baptism. 

The specification of one thing, is the prohibition of any 
and every other. Therefore, as Christ specifies the be- 
liever as the only proper subject of baptism. He positively 
forbids the baptism of unbelievers and non-believers — 
as certainly as He does the baptism of horses, mules and 
asses, or of bells and church houses. Those who baptize 



196 INFANT BAPTISM 

infants in His name, openly violate the law of God, and 
are guilty of falsehood. 

There is not a single passage referred to in the New 
Testament urged by Pedobaptists in support of infant 
baptism that other and most eminent of their own schol- 
ars — D. D/s, Bishops, and Archbishops — do not refute 
as affording any support to the practice. I give this 
chapter of examples in support of this statement. They 
can not all agree that any one passage does, certainly. 

FIRST INSTANCE. 

Some claim that among the multitude of parents doubt- 
less baptized by John the Baptist, not a few infants were 
also baptized. 

Mr. Thos. Scott (Episcopalian) : ^' It does not appear 
that any but adults were baptized by John.^^ — Com. on 
Matt, iii, 6, 6. 

Dr. Jacobi : ^' Infant baptism was established neither 
by Christ nor His apostles.'' — Kitto's Art. Bap. 

Mr. Burkitt (Episcopalian) : '^ John's baptism was the 
baptism of repentance, of which infants are incapable." — 
Com. on Matt, xix, 13-15. 

Dr. Wall (Episcopalian) : '^ There is no express men- 
tion, indeed, of any children baptized by him " — i. e.,. 
John. — Introduction, p. 27. 

Mr. Marshall : '^ Both John and Christ's disciples and 
apostles did teach before they baptized, because then no 
other were capable of baptism." — Quoter* from Booth, 
p. 303. 

SECOND INSTANCE. 

"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come 



UNSCRIPTURAL. 197" 

unto me ; for of such is the kingdom of heaven/^ is the 
stronghold of infant baptism. 

Dr. L. Wood says : ^' No one pretends that the chil- 
dren spoken of in this passage were brought to Christ 
for baptism, or that the passage affords direct proof of 
infant baptism." — Com. on Bap., p. 75. 

Bishop Burnet: '^ There is no express precept or rule 
in the New Testament for the baptism of infants." — 
Expo, of 39 Art.; Art. xxvii. 

Therefore there is neither precept nor example of the 
practice here. 

Bishop Taylor (Episcopalian) : "From the notion of 
Christ's blessing infants, to infer they are to be baptized, 
proves nothing so much as that there is a want of better 
argument. The conclusion would be with more proba- 
bility derived thus : Christ blessed infants, and so dis- 
missed them, but baptized them not ; therefore infants 
are not to be baptized." — Lib. of Prop., p. 326. 

Mr. Poole: ^^ We must take heed we do not found 
infant baptism upon the example of Christ in this text ; 
for it is certain that He did not baptize these children." 
— Anno, on Matt, xix, 14. 

Dr. Macknight (Presbyterian) says, on '^ Suffer little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven": " The Church of God 
on earth and His kingdom in heaven is composed of per- 
sons who resemble little children." — Com. on Matt. 
xix, 13. 

W. Burkett: '^ They were brought unto Christ; but 
for what end? Not to baptize them, but to bless them." 
— Com. on Matt, xix, 13-15. 



108 INFANT BAPTISM 

Dr. Lange, on ^' of such is the kingdom of heaven/^ 
says : ^' According to the parallel passages in Mark and 
Luke, it must also be regarded as a symbol of a child- 
like spirit, just as baptism itself is the type of personal 
regeneration.'^ — Com. on Matt, xix, 13-15. 

THIED INSTANCE. 

Another stronghold of Pedobaptists is I Cor. vii, 14 : 
the holiness of children, and therefore fitness for bap- 
tism and church membership. 

Olshausen (Lutheran) : ^' It is moreover clear, that 
St. Paul could not have chosen this line of argument, 
had infant baptism been at that time practiced. ''" — Com. 
on I Cor. Adi, 14. 

Neander (Lutheran), speaking of the distinction be- 
tween the children of heathens, and of their being '^con- 
sidered in a certain sense as belonging to the Church," 
immediately adds : " But this is not deduced from their 
having partaken of baptism, and this mode of connection 
with the Church is rather evidence against the existence 
of infant baptism." — His. of Plan, etc.; Vol. I, p. 165; 
Bohn's ed. 

John Wesley : " For as many of you as have testified 
your faith by being baptized in the name of Christ, have 
put on Christ — have received Him as your righteous- 
ness, and are therefore sons of God through Him.'^ — 
New Testament. 

Methodists will readily accept John Wesley's authority. 

Lutz (Lutheran) : ^^ If Paul had only thought of infant 
baptism, he could not possibly have spoken thus." — 
Stier's Words, etc.; Vol. Ill, p". 229 ; Clark^s ed. 



UNSCRIPTUKAL. 199 

Dr. Bledsoe^, editor of the Southern [31. E,) lievieWy 
and tlie most scholarly man in the Methodist denomina- 
tion^ thus frankly and explicitly gives up the New Tes- 
tament^ ex cathedra: '^ It is an article of our faith that 
the baptism of young children [infants] is in anywise 
to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable to the 
institution of Christ. But, yet, with all our searchings, 
we have been unable to find in the ISTew Testament a 
single express declaration or word in favor of infant 
baptism. We justify the right, therefore, solely on the 
ground of logical inference, and not on any express word 
of Christ or His apostles. This may perhaps be deemed, 
by some of our readers, a strange position for a Pedo- 
baptist. It is by no means, however, a singular opinion. 
Hundreds of learned Pedobaptists have come to the 
same conclusion, especially since the New Testament has 
been subjected to a closer, more conscientious and more 
candid exegesis, than was formerly practiced by contro- 
versialists.^^ 

The Presbyterians will accept the testimony of Dr. 
Barnes, who has produced by far the best Commentary 
on the New Testament of any Pedobaptist in this cen- 
tury with which we are acquainted. He says : '' This 
passage has been often interpreted, and is often adduced, 
to prove that children are ^federally holy,' and that they 
are entitled to Christian baptism on the ground of the 
faith of one of their parents. But against this interpre- 
tation are insuperable objections: 1. The phrase ^fed- 
erally holy,' is unintelligible, and conveys no idea to the 
great mass of men. It occurs nowhere in the Scripture; 
and what can be meant by it? 2. It does not accord 
with the scope and design of the argument. There is 
14 



200 



INFANT BAPTISM UNSCRIPTURAL. 



not one word about baptism here, not one allusion to it; 
nor does the argument in the remotest degree bear upon 
it. Paul's argument, in a few words, is this : If the 
intercourse of a believing wife with an unbelieving hus- 
band was so improper as that she must separate from him, 
then all of you would have to separate from all your 
children, for they stand in the same relation to you." 



TESTIMONY O'J CHURCHES. 201 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES, IN THE ORDER 

OF THEIR ORIGIN, TOUCHING THE MEANING 

OF BAPTIZO, AND THE PRACTICE OF 

THAT CHURCH. 

CHAPTER ly. 
THE GKEEK CHUKCH, A. D. 3D CENTURY. 

WHAT DOES THE GEEEK CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE OLD- 
EST OF HUMAN CPIUECHES, SAY IS THE MEANING OF 
-BAPTIZO, AND ITS PRACTICE IN THE SECOND AND 
THIRD CENTURIES? 

^' Baptism represents the death of our Lord. The 
first baptism was the flood. The old man was entirely 
buried in the water." — ^^ John of Damascus f^ Lib. 4 ; c. 
9 ; Greek. 

'^ We represent our Lord^s sufferings and resurrection 
by baptism in a pool.'' — Justin Martyr, Questio ; 13, 7 ; 
Greek. 

'^ The total concealment in water fitly represents 
Christ's death and burial." — Dionysius,^^ de eccl. Hier- 
archia ;" 2 ; Greek. 

^'Baptism is an immersion, and then an emersion." — 
1845; Chrysostom ; Greek Catholic. Ep. c. 11; Greek. 

^' Men descend into the water bound to death ; but 
ascend out of it sealed to life." — Hermas, " Pastor," 3 ;, 
Greek. 

^'When our heads enter tlie water as a tomb, the old 
man is buried, and plunging down i.i wholly concealed 
all at once. Our Lord delivered to His disciples one 
baptism by three immersions." — 1848; Chrysostom; 
Greek Catholic. 



202 TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 

'' Baptism typifies by immersion the death, by emersion 
the resurrection of Christ." — Theophylact ; Greek Cath- 
olic. 

^^ In the primitive Church, baptism was a total immer- 
sion or burial, as it were." — ^^ Theology ;" p. 632 ; 1701 ; 
Bechmann. 

'' The Greeks put the candidate under the water so that 
the water comes together over the head. The Greeks 
regard immersion as essential to baptism and reject 
sprinkling. The ancients were not accustomed to 
sprinkle, but to immerse the candidate." — ^^Controver- 
sies ;" vol. V ; pp. 476, 477 ; 1733 ; Walch. 

^^ Baptism is to be understood of immersion in Matt. 
iii : 16, for Christ is said to have come up out of the 
water."— '^ Oecon. Salutis;" p. 184; 1737; Jacob Car- 
povius. 

*' He came up, therefore He went down. Behold an 
immersion, not an aspersion." — ^^ Ductor Dubitantium ;" 
vol. X; p. 368 ; 1660; (Jeremy, Patriarch of Constanti- 
nople, quoted in works of Bishop Taylor) — Greek. 

"The words of Christ are that they should baptize or 
dip. In things which depend for their force upon the 
mere will and pleasure of Him who instituted them, there 
ought, no doubt, great regard be had to the command of 
Him who did so." — " Sacram. of Bap.;" vol III ; p. 53 ; 
1676; Dr. Towerson. 

*^^ Baptism is a type of our Lord's death. In holy 
baptism we receive the type of the resurrection." — Theo- 
doret, Greek Catholic. 

"He who is immersed in water and baptized, is sur- 
rounded with water on all sides." — Cyril of Jerusalem; 
Cat. 17; Greek. 

" As in the night so in immersion, as if it were night, 
you can see nothing." — Cyril of Jerusalem ; " Cat. 
Mystag;" 2; Greek. 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 203 

^^ Coming to the water, we conceal ourselves in it, as 
the Savior concealed himself in the earth/' — Gregory 
Nyssen ; '^ Baptism of Christ ;'' Greek. 

^^ On the great Sabbath of the Easter festival, the 16th 
day of April, 404, Chrysostom, with the assistance of the 
clergy of his own Church, baptized by immersion in 
Constantinople about three thousand catechumens/^ — 
Chrysostom^s Ep. ad. ^^Innocent ;" vol. Ill ; p. 518 ; Greek. 

The following testimony of a prominent Greek scholar 
appears in one of our exchanges : 

^^ Rev. C. G. Jones, of Lynchburg, Va., some time ago 
wrote a letter to Dr. A. Diomedes Kyriasko, Professor 
of Church History in the university, of Athens, Greece, 
asking him about the meaning of the Greek word hap- 
tlzo. The following extract from a recent letter pub- 
lished in the Co-worker, shows what this Greek scholar 
thinks about the matter :" 

Athens, August, 1890. 

Dear Sir — The verb haptizo in the Greek language 
never has the meaning of to pour or to sprinkle, but 
invariably ^^ to dip.^' In the Greek Church both in its 
earliest time and in our days, to baptize has meant to 
dip. It is through this process that our Church baptizes 
and always has baptized both infants belonging to Chris- 
tians families and adults turning from any other religion 
to Christianity, i, 6., by clipping them thrice into water. 
Thus also, (meaning by dipping) used the apostles to 
baptize. Were it not so, St. Paul could not have com- 
pared baptizing to the death of Christ, saying that in 
baptism we are buried with Christ and are risen witli 
Him ; that is to say, the old man in us has been buried, 
and the new man fashioned according to the likeness of 
Christ risen again. Since baptism, therefore, by the 
cleansing of the soul, this idea can only be clearly repre- 
sented by the entire dipping of the body into the water, 
and not by sprinkling or pouring. 

Yours truly, etc.. 
Dr. a. Diomedes Kyriasko, Professor. 



204 TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 

I took tea with Mr. Kalopothake, the native Presby- 
terian pastor, one evening after I had addressed his con- 
gregation. It was a delightful evening. Among others 
I met a Presbyterian minister who was attending the 
great University in Athens, where there are 3,000 stu- 
dents and seventy professors. 

I asked him if he would kindly act as my interpreter 
at the University on the day following. He readily 
consented and asked what I wished. I replied that I 
wished to ascertain what the word baptizo meant. 

We met at 11 A. M. and went directly to the great 
library, where there are 200,000 volumes. I was intro- 
duced to the librarian and then to one of the professors. 
I asked through my interpreter if they would kindly 
inform me what act the word baptizo signified. " It has 
but one meaning — to submerge, to immerse. Why do 
you ask?'' 

My Presbyterian friend said that the word might mean 
figuratively something else. " Not at all," said the pro- 
fessor, " it never means anything but to put under the 
water and take out of the Avater." Then two other pro- 
fessors came up, one of whom spoke Spanish beautifully, 
and they all ratified what had been said, and looked rather 
surprised that any question should be raised as to the 
meaning of the word. 

One of the professors brought two Greek and English 
lexicons, one I remember was by Dr. Sophocles, who 
was a professor in Harvard University for twenty-eight 
years, and both lexicons rendered the word to dip, to 
plunge, to immerse. 

I asked the professors what the word baptizo meant in 
Latin, and they replied, " submergere.^^ I inquired fur- 
thermore what it meant in Spanish, and they said, ^^ im- 
mersion J ^ 

An intelligent Greek said, " Don't ask me, ask any 
common laborer you meet on the street and he will tell 
you." So when I returned to the hotel I requested the 
head waiter, who was a Frenchman, to ask the porter 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 205 

what the word baptizo meant. He replied that it meant 
^' to put under the water and to take out of the water.'' 

I asked Bro. Sahallarios, who has charge of the Bap- 
tist Church in Athens, if the Greek word could mean 
anything but immersion, and he said, " No." To my 
inquiry how the Presbyterians managed this question, he 
replied, "Very easily, by having a baptistery made in 
which they immerse infants, just as the Greek priests 
do.'' Said he, '^ Once they sprinkled some children and 
it created such a scandal that it came near breaking up 
the Church, and they were compelled to have a small 
baptistry made. Adult Greeks are received into the 
Presbyterian Church on the baptism which they received 
in the Greek Church. 

In Greece, Bulgaria, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and 
wherever the Greek language is spoken, immersion for 
baptism is practiced. 

In Cairo I visited a Coptic Catholic Church, called 
" The Church of the Virgin," and was shown a baptistery 
with the water three feet deep, where both adults and 
infants were immersed. 

Russia, with its eighty million inhabitants, was con- 
verted from paganism by two Greek priests, consequently 
all the people have been immersed, and thousands of the 
people go annually on a pilgrimage to the river Jordan 
to dip themselves where our Savior was baptized. 

It can not be denied that the Greeks understand their 
own language. 



206 TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 



CHAPTER V. 
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 7TH CENTURY. 

WHAT DOES THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SAY BAP- 
TIZO MEANS, AND WHAT WAS ITS PRACTICE FPwOM 
THE SEVENTH TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY? 

" Nothing can be more monstrous than these emblems I 
Was our Lord Christ baptized by aspersion? This is so 
far from being true that nothing can be more opposite to 
truth, and it is to be attributed to the ignorance and 
rashness of workmen." — ^^ Christian Antiq.;" p. 56; 
1755 ; P. M. Paciaudi; Italian Roman Catholic. 

" Nowadays the priests preserve a shadow of the 
ancient Ambrosian form of baptizing, for they do not 
baptize by pouring, as the Romans do, but dip the 
hinder part of the head, which is a vestige yet remain- 
ing of the most ancient and universal practice of im- 
mersion.'' — "Antiq. Ital.;" Vol. IV; 67; Muratori ; 
Italian Roman Catholic. 

" I will never cease to profess and teach that only 
immersion in water, except in cases of necessity, is law- 
ful baptism in the Church.'' — ^^ Ceremonies of Baptism ;" 
Lib. IV ; chapter 6 ; Joseph de Vicecomes ; French 
Roman Catholic. 

" Baptism was performed by immersion in the name 
of the Trinity."— ^^ Church History;" Trier; p. 56; 
1882; F. X. Kraus; German Roman Catholic. 

" For the dead, representing the dead, because the 
immersion and emersion, performed in baptism, are a 
kind of representation of death and burial." — 1842; 
Chancellor Est; German Roman Catholic. 



TESTIMONY OF CHUKCHES. SOT 

'^ Joha had chosen the Jordan because there was 
enough water for the customary baptism^ and at the 
fords much people were passing.^' — 1821 ; Grass ; Ger- 
man Roman Catholic. 

*' Immersion, which takes place in baptism, signifies 
and expresses, as has been said, the burial of Christ., 
We are buried, I say, to the death of the old man and 
sin, as Christ lay in the sepulchre dead in mortal liesh/^ — 
1842; Chancellor Est; German Roman Catholic. 

^' Although immersion was more inconvenient and 
immodest, nevertheless, because of its greater conformity 
and likeness to the mystery of the Lord's death, burial 
and resurrection, it was ordinarily used by the primitive 
Church.''— '* Cabassutius ; Notitia Eccles.;" 1690; Ro- 
man Catholic. 

" Baptism by immersion continued to be the jDrevaii- 
ing practice of the Church as late as the fourteenth cen- 
tury."— ^^ Church History;" vol. II, p. 294; 1840; 
Doeliinger ; German Old Catholic. 

'^ Martyrdom is called a baptism ; a metaphor, as I 
think, taken from those wlio are submerged in the sea 
to put them to death." — 1624, Maldonatus; Spanish Ro- 
man Catholic. 

" Ordinarily baptism is performed by immersion, and 
that to represent the burial of Christ." — " Disputa- 
tions;" vol. Ill, p. 279; 1590; Bellarmine ; Italian 

Roman Catholic. 

" Plunged into the water. Baptize strictly conveys 
this Signification, as all the learned are agreed." — Rt. 
Rev. Dr. Trenan; Roman Catholic. 

" The primary meaning of the term ^ baptize ' is ac- 
knowledged to be to Clip or phuigef' and he inserted the 
word '' immerse" in the margin of his translation. — 
Francis P. Kendrick, Archbishop of Baltimore ; Roman 
Catholic. 



.208 TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 

There can be no higher Koman Catholic authority 
than the Douay Bible, Avith Haydock's Notes, published 
by Edward Duiiigan & Bro., New York. It has the 
indorsement of the Pope himself. We quote from 
these Notes what is said on Matt, iii, 6, as follows : 

Baptized. — The word baptism signifies a washing, par- 
ticuhiriy when it is done by immersion^ or by dipping or 
jjlunr/ing a thing under water, w^hich was formerly the 
ordinary w^ay of administering the sacrament of baptism. 
But the Church, which can not change the least article of 
the Christian faith, is not so tied up in matters of disci- 
pline and ceremonies. Not only the Catholic Church, 
but also the pretended Reformed Churches, have altered 
this primitive custom m giving the sacrament of bap- 
tism, and now allow of baptism by pouring or sprinkling 
water upon the person baptized ; nay, many of their 
ministers do it nowadays by filliping a wet finger and 
thumb o;v^er the child^s head, or by shaking a wet finger 
or two over the child, which it is hard enough to call a 
baptizing in any sense. 

Here is another extract from the same Roman Catho- 
lic Notes : 

See notes on Matthew iii. That Christ was baptized 
by immersion is clear from the text; for he who as- 
cended out of the water must first have descended into 
it. And this method was in general use in the Church 
for thirteen hundred years, as appears from the acts of 
councils and ancient rituals. 

Dr. Doelinger, who died recently, was a man of extra- 
ordinary ability and attainments, a leader of his wing 
of the Catholics, and a standard historian of the Church 
of Rome. It is worth while to notice that he says : 

" The Baptists are, from a Protestant stand-point, un- 
assailable, since for their demand of baptism by sub- 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 209 

mersion they have the clear Bible text, and the authority 
of the Church is regarded by neither party/^ 

To this statement may be added that of Dr. Moses 
Stewart, a learned Pedobaptist, who was probably one 
of the finest Greek scholars that this country has ever 
produced : 

" I can not see how it is possible for any candid man, 
who examines the subject, to deny that apostolic bap- 
tism was immersion/^ 

" John had chosen the Jordan because there was enough 
water for the customary baptism, and at the fords much 
people were passing/' — 1821 ; Grass ; German Roman 
Catholic. 



210 TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 



CHAPTER VI. 

LUTHERAN CHURCH, 16TH CENTURY. 

WHAT DOES THE LUTHERAN CHURCH SAY BAPTIZO 
MEANS, AND WHAT ITS PRACTICE ? 

*^ We can not deny that tlie first institution of baptism 
consisted in immersion, and not sprinkling.^' — '^^Syst. 
Theol.;'' vol. Ill, chapter 8, p. 369; 1615; Kecker- 
man ; German. 

^' Formerly the candidate was entirely immersed in 
rivers and founts, great lakes full of water inside the 
churches of the Christians." — p. 616; 1625; Yv^ni. 
Bucanus ; Swiss. 

'^ Baptize is generally found used for plunging and a 
total immersion." — '^ Dub. Evan.;" vol. Ill, p. 24, §2; 
1634; Spanheim ; German. 

" This sprinkling, which appears to have first come 
generally into use in the thirteenth century, in place ot 
the entire immersion of the body, in imitation of the 
previous baptism of the sick, h?ts certainly the imperfec- 
tion that the symbolical character of the act is expressed 
by it much less conspicuously than by complete immer- 
sion and burial under water." — '^ Christian Dogmatics;" 
p. 749; 1870; Van Oosterzee ; Dutch. 

^^ History teaches that baptism at a very early period 
degenerated from the primitive simplicity. It was 
originally administered by immersion." — ^' Pract. Theol- 
ogy ;" p. 419; 1878; Van Oosterzee ; Dutch. 

" In allowing himself to be dipped into the water, tlie 
Son of Man performed the first act of His atoning 
humiliation."— Durch's ''Heiligeland," p. 147; 1878; 
0:'cl]i: Sv/iss. 



TESTIMO^xY OF CHURCHES. 211 

^'' Baptize means dip into anything. Baptism is con- 
secration to the Ciiurch^ accompanied by a solemn 
immersion/'— ''Die Taufformel;'' p. 12; 1885; J. H. 
Scliolten ; Dutch. 

^' The immersion in holy baptism is commonly re- 
ceived as a symbol of mere cleansing — a right thorough 
ablution^ as it Vv^ere. That may be convenient in order 
to justify its substitute aspersion, but it is wrong.'' — 
"Theology;" vol. III, §462; Rem. I; 1851; Ebrard; 
German. 

" Baptism is an institution of the New Testament 
Church commanded by Christ, in which believers, by 
being immersed in water, testifv their communion vrith 
the Church."— "Inst. Theol.f" vol. I, p. 3 ; 1635; 
Stapfer; Swiss. 

" Baptism is immersion, and was administered in 
ancient times according to the force and meaninp^ of the 
v\^ord. Now it is only rantism or sprinkling."—" De 
Cses. Virorum;" p. 669; 1644; Salmasius; French. 

" We do not deny that the word baptism bears the 
sense of immersion, or that in the first examples of per- 
sons baptized they went into the water and were 
immersed.^' — " Socin. Confut.; " vol. Ill, chapter 2, p. 
268; 1664; Hoornbeck, Dutch. 

" It can not be denied that the original signification 
of the word baptlzo is to plunge — to dip." — Oecon. 
Foed.;" vol. IV, chapter 16, §13; 1677; Witsius ; 
Dutch. 

" The apostolic Church, baptized only by immersion. 
The conjecture that the three thousand were sprinkled 
is too much of a conjecture to be trusted." — '^ Theology ;" 
vol. II, pp. 673, 684, 686 ; 1838 ; Bretschneider. 

" Lydia was probably baptized in the river outside the 
>city of Philippi." — " OfPentlich Gottes verehrung;" 
vol. II, p. 271 ; 1839 ; W. Bohmer. 



212 TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 

" I dip you in water; this the word always signifies.'' 
— 1815 J O. V. Gerlach; German Lutheran. 

^' That baptism was performed not by sprinkling, but 
by immersion, is evident, not only from the nature of 
the w^ord but from Rom. 6, 4. Casaubon well suggested 
that dunein means to be submerged with the design that 
you may perish. Epipolazein to float on the surface of 
the water; haptizo (in reflexive form), to immerse your- 
self wholly, for another end than that you perish. '^ — 1826 ; 
Fritzsche ; German Lutheran. 

" Baptizo is the prevalent expression for baptism as it 
originally took place by immersion under the water.'' — 
1862 ; Bleek ; German Lutheran. 

'^ And were baptized (immersed) in the Jordan, con- 
fessing their sins." Luke 3, 16. '' He will, so to speak, 
wholly immerse you in the Holy Ghost and in the fire." 
— J. P. Lange ; German Lutheran. 

" The cup signifies a great measure of suflerings ; bap- 
tism is more, a complete immersion in them. His bloody 
death." — 1815; O. v. Gerlach ; German Lutheran. 

" The learned rightly think that, on account of the 
mystical meaning of baptism, the right of immersion 
ought to have been retained in the Christian Church."—* 
1829; J. G. Rosenmueller ; German Lutheran. 

" The immersion of the candidate had too much simi- 
larity to the burial of a dead person for the apostle in 
his allegory not to make use of it." — 1831; Hueckert; 
German Lutheran. 

" For the explanation of this figurative description of 
the baptismal rite, it is necessary to call attention to the 
well-known circumstance that, in the early days of the 
Church, persons, when baptized, were first plunged below 
and then raised above the water." — 1834; Tholuck; 
German Lutheran. 

" Immersion into water is an image of burial. It is not 
customary to bury any but those reputed to be dead." — 
1840; Fritzsche; German Lutheran. 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 213^ 

CHAPTER VII. 

PKESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 16TH CENTURY. 

WHAT DO THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF ENGLAND 
AND AMERICA SAY BAPTIZO MEANS, AND WHAT OF' 
THE PRACTICE OF THE EARLIEST CHURCH ? 

" Jesus certainly makes an illusion to His baptism at 
the hands of His forerunner, which included a consecra- 
tion to death. The figure is as follows : Jesus saw 
Himself about to be plunged into a bath of flame, from 
which He shall come forth the Torch which shall set the 
whole world on fire. The Lord expresses with perfect 
candor the impression of terror which is produced in 
Him by the necessity of going through this furnace of 
suffering.^' — 1879; Godet; Swiss Presbyterian. 

" Respecting the form of baptism, therefore (quite 
otherwise with the much more important difference re- 
specting the subject of baptism, or infant baptism — 
Comp. Ill, p. 144), the impartial historian is compelled,, 
by exegesis and history, substantially to yield the point 
to the Baptists, as is done, in fact (perhaps somewhat too 
decidedly, and without true regard to the arguments just 
stated for the other practice), by most German schol- 
ars.'' — '' History of Apostolic Church,'' first edition ; 
p. 570; 1860; Schaff; American Presbyterian. 

'^ We doubt not that the prevalent style of the ad- 
ministration in the apostles' days was by an actual 
submerging of the whole body under water." — 1846 ; 
Chalmers ; Scotch Presbyterian. 

"Baptism means immersion, and it was immersion.. 
The Hebrews immersed their proselytes ; the Essenes 
took their daily baths ; John plunged his penitents into^ 
the Jordan ; Peter dipped his crowd of converts into one 



214 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 



of the great pools which were to be found in Jerusalem. 
Unless it had been so, PauPs analogical argument 
about our being buried with Christ in baptism would 
have had no meaning. Nothing could have been simpler 
than baptism in its first form. When a convert declared 
his faith in Christ, he was taken at once to the nearest 
pool or stream of water and plunged into it, and hence- 
forward he was recognized as one of the Christian 
community." — ^^ The Growth of the Church;" p. 173; 
1886; J. Cunningham; Scotch. 

^^ It is used, as Hoffman rightly observes, to make the 
analogy between the baptism of the Israelites, which was 
not by immersion, and the baptism of Christians, which 
was, at least as a rule, by immersion, more complete." — 
1885; Principal Edwards ; Scotch Presbyterian. 

^^A double allusion, first to the watering of plants, 
second to immersion in baptism, as in Rom. vi, 4." — 
1885; Principal J. C. Edwards; Scotch Presbyterian. 

'^ That the custom of baptism by immersion is alluded 
to is generally admitted." — 1884 ; M. B. Riddle ; Ameri- 
can Presbyterian. 

'^ The very word baptize, however, signifies to immerse ; 
and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the 
ancient Church."— '^ Institutes ;" vol. Ill, p. 343 ; 1816 ; 
John Calvin. 

^' The symbolic import of the dipping lies in the man^s 
going under, and in his new coming forth; as Luther 
has so correctly and strikingly expressed it, ^ That the 
old man may be drowned, and a new man come forth 
iigain.' " 

Presbyterian Dilemma. — Dr. W. D. Powell writes 
from Greece to the Texas Baptist and Herald that the Pres - 
byterians in Greece practice immersion for baptism, it 
being impossible to persuade native Greeks that the 
Greek word baptizo means anything but immerse. Greek 
is still a living language, spoken by the inhabitants of 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 215 

Oroece, and they think they know what Greek words 
mean. In this country Presbyterians argue ngainst 
immersion find contend that haptizo has other meanings, 

and that the right way to baptize is by sprinkling. 

Various ponderous volumes oor Presbyterian brethren 
have published to show that sprinkling is the proper 
act for baptism, and the arguments have not been without 
weight with those who were not acquainted with Greek. 
The Presbyterian scholars who are not polemical, frankly 
concede that haptizo does not mean sprinkle or pour. 

American Presbyterians have planted three Churches 
in Greece, and they have been compelled to practice im- 
mersion because everybody there knows Greek and knows 
that haptizo does not mean sprinkle or pour. 

Dr. Powell says : ^' I found that all Churches in Greece 

—Presbyterians included — - are compelled to immerse 
canilidates for baptism, for, as one of the professors 
remarked, Hhe commonest d.2.Y laborer understands 
nothing else for haptizo but immersion.^ ^' He also 
visited the great university at Athens, which has 3,000 
.students, and he says : I asked a professor Vv^hat haptizo 
meant, and he said, " It has but one meaning — -to sub- 
merge — -to immerse, why do you ask ? '^ 

We commend this to the Christian Observer^ of this 
■city, and to our Presbyterian brethren generally. How 
comes it that if haptizo means to sprinkle, the Greeks cati 
not be made to believe ifc ? Can it be that the Greeks 
do not understand their own language? What would 
the Ohserver say if a Presbyterian Church in Kentucky 
should adopt immersion ? ¥7hat will it say that three 
Presbyterian Churches, one of them established by the 
Southern Assembly, in Greece have adopted immersion ? 
Are arguments which are valid in America worthless in 
Greece? By all means let some champion of sprinkling 
be sent to Greece to explain to the Greeks the meaning 
of Greek words. — Western Recorder. 

" The word haptizo, both in sacred authors and in 
15 



216 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 



classical, signifies to dip, to plunge, to immerse.^' — 1848 ; 
George Campbell ; Scotch Presbyterian. 

^^ The submersion in the depth of the flowing water 
by the hand of the Baptist became the most effective, 
visible and sensible symbol of the moral purification of 
this generation * * * and this deep submersion, by 
the hand of a confessor ^< * * was something which 
had never before existed.^' — Ewald, quoted by Thomas 
M. Lindsay ; Presbyterian. 

" The neighborhood of the Jordan was indispensable 
besides on account of baptism, as there is no other water- 
course in all Palestine that is not intermittent, and the 
rite introduced by John and at first preserved by the 
Church, being immersion.^' — 1876; Reuss; French Pres- 
byterian. 

^'What led him to the Jordan was his business as a 
baptizer. This action, consisting in complete immersion 
represents the symbolical sign -language, indispensable 
to an Oriental, which accompanies the inner experience 
of repentance.'' — 1889 ; H. J. Holtzmann ; German Pres- 
byterian. 

^' He submitted to be baptized — that is, to be buried 
under the water — by John, and to be raised out of it 
again, as an emblem of His future death and resurrec- 
tion." — 1843; MacKnight; Scotch Presbyterian. 

^^The original meaning of the word baptism is immer- 
sion, and we doubt not that the prevalent style of the 
administration in the apostles' days was by an actual sub- 
merging of the whole body under water." — 1846; Chal- 
mers; Scotch Presbyterian. 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 217 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE CHUECH OF ENGLAND AND THE PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF AMERICA, 17TH CENTURY. 

WHAT DO EPISCOPALIAN SCHOLARS OF ENGLAND AND 
AMERICA SAY BAPTIZO MEANS, AND WHAT THE 
PRACTICE OF THE EARLIEST CHURCHES? 

^^ In baptism our sins are drowned and buried. We 
renounce them and are delivered from them, and leave 
them there as the Israelites did their enemies, the Egyp- 
tians, in the depths of the Red Sea. And we emerge 
from the baptismal Red Sea of Christ's blood in order 
to enter on the road which leads us to our heavenly 
Caanan." — 1864 ; Bishop Wordsworth ; English Episco- 
palian. 

'' Plunged, enveloped in the rushing blast of the 
divine breath.^' — 1865 ; A. P. Stanley ; English Episco- 
palian. 

^^ This is a reference to the disagreeable sensation which 
the Jewish proselyte felt when in winter he was dipped 
under the cold water : perhaps also to the scourging ot 
Jesus when his whole body was covered with blood.'' — 
^^ Horse Hebr.;" p. 407, Leipsic ed.; Lightfoot ; English 
Episcopalian. 

^^ In the ancient Church, they did not pour, but they 
immersed in water those who were baptized.'' — 1627 ; 
John Davenant ; English Episcopalian. 

" There is here plainly a reference to the ancient mode 
of baptism by immersion ; and I agree with Koppe and 
Rosenmueller, that there is reason to regret it should have 
been abandoned in most Christian Churches, especially 
as it has so evidently a reference to the mystic sense of 
baptism." — 1855; Bloomfield ; English Episcopalian. 



218 TE3TIM0:v'Y OF CHURCHES. 

" This passage can not be understood unless it be borne 
in mind that the primitive baptism was by immersion." 
— 1870 ; Conybeare andHowson ; English Episcopalians. 

^' There seems to be no reason to doubt (with Eadic) 
that both here and in Romans vi, 6, there is an allusion 
to the immersion and emersion in baptism." — 1857 ; 
Bishop Eliicott ; English Episcopalian. 

*' It is needless to add that baptism was (unless in ex- 
ceptional cases) administered by immersion, the couA^ert 
being plunged beneath the surface of the water, to rep- 
resent his death to the life of sin, and then raised from 
this momentary burial, to represent his resurrection to 
the life of righteousness." — ^' Life and Epistles of St. 
Paul;" vol. I; p. 439; 1853: Conybeare and Howson ; 
English Episcopalians. 

'^ That was symbolized in baptism and realized by faith 
which had already been effected for you in Christ." — 
1861; Webster and Wilkinson ; English Episcopalians. 

" Overshadowed by the cloudy pillar as a baptism, we 
pass under the cloudy veil of water ; through the sea 
as through the waters of baptism." — 1862 ; Dean Stanley ; 
English Episcopalian. 

^^ We did own some kind of death by being buried 
underwater." — 1812 ; John Locke ; English Ej)iscopalian. 

" Holy baptism is the outward visible sign of water, 
in which in those days (apostolic times), one was im- 
mersed, or, as it were, buried ; the sign, indeed, of our 
dying and rising again. — 1861 ; Bp. Colenso; English 
Episcopalian. 

" Our baptism w^as a sort of funeral ; a solemn act of 
consigning us to that death of Christ in which we are 
made one with Him." — 1861 ; C. J. Vaughn; English 
Episcopalian. 

^^ Doubtless there is an allusion to immersion as the 
usual mode of baptism, introduced to show that baptism 



i 



TESTIMO:\'Y OF CHUECHES. 219 

symbolizes also our spiritual resurrection. We are in 
Him caused to pass through a spiritual death unto sin, 
death of the carnal nature, into a state of life to God/^ — 
1861 ; Webster and Wilkinson ; English Episcopalians. 

^^ There can be no doubt that baptism, when it is ad- 
ministered in the primitive and most correct form, is a 
divinely constituted emblem of bodily resurrection. 
And it is to be regretted that the form of administration 
unavoidably (if it be unavoidably) adopted in cold cli- 
mates, should utterly obscure the emblematic signification 
of the rite, and render unintelligible to all but the edu- 
cated, the apostles' association of burial and resurrection 
with the ordinance. Were immersion universally prac- 
ticed, this association of two, at present heterogeneous 
ideas, v,''ould become intellia^ible to the humblest.^' — 
^^ Bamptou Lectures ;'' p. 18; 1850; Dean Goulburn. 

^^ There can be no question that the original form of 
baptism — the very meaning of the word — was complete 
immersion in the deep baptismal waters ; and that for at 
least four centuries any other form was either unknown 
or regarded as an exceptional, almost a monstrous, case.'' 
— "Quarterly Review;" June, 1854. 

" The water answers as a figure to the water of the 
flood. The source of danger was the instrument of 
deliverance. We are baptized into the death of Christ 
and He through death destroyed him that had the power 
of death." — 1861; Webster and Wilkinson; English 
Episcopalians. 

" The same water which drowned those who disobeyed 
Noah, saved those who entered into the ark ; so also 
baptismal water, which potentially drowns and destroys 
the old man, or our sinful nature, saves ail who are 
brought into and remain in the true ark w^itli Christ." — 
1871-81; F. C. Cook; English Episcoi)alian. 

" I am to be baptized with blood, overwhelmed w^ith 
sufferiiigs and afflictions." — "Annotations;'' 1842; 
Poole ; English Episcopalian. 



220 TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 

'^There is here plainly a reference to the ancient mode 
of baptism by immersion; and I agree with Koppe and 
Rosenmueller, that there is reason to regret it should 
have been abandoned in most Christian Churches, espe- 
cially as it has so evidently a reference to the mystic 
sense of baptism/' — 1855; Bloomfield; English Episco- 
palian. 

^^ This passage (Rom. vi, 3, 4) can not be understood 
unless it be borne in mind that the primitive baptism 
was by immersion." — 1870; Conybeare and Howson; 
English Episcopalians. 

"Imagine crowds of grown-up persons rising in com- 
munion with God and nature. The symbol itself was in a 
figure death and burial at once, the most important 
change that can pass upon man, like the sudden change 
into another life, when we leave the body.'' — 1855 ; Benj. 
Jowett; English Episcopalian. 

" In the ancient Church they did not pour, but they 
immersed in water those who were baptized.^' — 1627; 
John Davenant; English Episcopalian. 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 221 



CHAPTER IX. 

WHAT DO THE SCHOLARS OF THE INDEPENDENTS, OR 
CONGREGATIONALISTS, OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA 
SAY IS THE MEANING OF BAPTIZO ? 

Prof. L. L. Payne, to liis class in their Theological 
Seminary, Bangor, Maine : ^^ What was the apostolic 
and primitive mode of baptism ? By immersion. When 
was the practice of sprinkling or pouring generally intro- 
duced ? Not until the fourteenth century.^' 

Dr. Payne says : ^^ It may be honestly asked, by some, 
was immersion the primitive form of baptism, and if so, 
what then ? As to the question of fact, the testimony is 
ample and decisive. No matter of Church history is 
clearer. The evidence is all one way, and all Church 
historians of any repute agree in accepting it. We can 
not claim even originality in teaching it in a Congrega- 
tional Seminary. And Ave really feel guilty of a kind 
of anachronism in writing an article to insist upon it. 
It is a point on which ancient, mediaeval and modern 
historians alike — Catholic and Protestant, Lutheran and 
Calvinist — have no controversy. And the simple reason 
for this unanimity is that the statements of the early 
fathers are so clear, and the light shed upon these state- 
ments from the early customs of the Church is so con- 
clusive, that no historian who cares for his reputation 
would dare to deny it, and no historian who is worthy 
of the name would wish to. * * * * But on this 
one, of the early practice of immersion, the most distin- 
guished antiquarians, such as Bingham, August! (Cole- 
man), Smith (Dictionary of the Bible), and historians 
such as Mosheim, Geisler, Hase, Neander, Milman, Schaiij 
Alzog (Catholic), hold a common language. The follow- 
ing extract from Coleman's Antiquities very accurately 



222 TESTIMONY CF CHURCHES. 

express what all agree to : ^ Iii the primitive Church, 
immersion was undeniably the common mode of bap- 
tism/ As one further illustration Ave quote from SchalTs 
* Apostolic Church/ ^As to the outward mode of ad- 
ministering this ordinance, immersion, and not sj^rinh- 
ling, was unquestionably the original, normal form/ 

^' As late as the thirteenth century immersion still held 
its ground. ^ ^ ^ >i< 

'' We have no controversy Yv'ith our Baptist brethren on 
the historical question of the primitive form. It Vv^as 
wiihout doubt immersion. We are ready even to allow 
the superior significance, in some aspects, of this form 
of the rite. Some passages of scripture can be under- 
stood only by recognizing immersion as the form of bap- 
tism employed Y\^hen tl^iey were written. * -i^ ^ 
Therefore vve say to our Baptist friend, immerse, if you 
please ; we say not a v/ord against it. Our fall Chris- 
tian fellowship and sympathy are with you. in it.'^ 

" I have, indeed, a most dreadful baptism to be bap- 
tized with, and know that I shall shortly be baptized, as 
as it were, in blood, and plunged in the most over- 
whelming distress." — 1862; Doddridge; English Con- 
gregationalist. 

" Baptism, it is now generally agreed among scholars, 
was commonly by immersion." — ^' The Beginnings of 
Christianity;" p. 565 ; 1877; G.P.Fisher; American 
Congregationalist. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

^^ Baptism, or our immersion under water, according 
to the ancient rite of administering it, is a figure of our 
burial with Christ."— 1802; Charles Buckley. 

^' The ceremony of immersion in the baptismal water 
indicates that we are like Jesus, buried to our former 
8tate, so that we have no more connection with it than a 
dead body."— 1822; T. Belsham; English Unitarian. 



TESTIMONY OF CHURCHES. 



22^ 



"But ill our day, almost all tlie mystical meaning of 
baptism lias perished. It is to be lamented and con- 
demned tliat most Churches have substituted sprinkling 
and repudiated the first original rite of immersion/^-— 
1824; J. B. Koppe; German. 

" We are buried in baptism like Him. That dipping 
was a picture of burial. It explains that we have really 
died to sin.''--1825; C. C. Flatt; German. 

"When ye were immersed into the water of haptisrii, 
ve were engrafted into the death of Christ. That is, the 
immersion of your body ws a sign.^'— 1832 ; Zwmgli ; 
Swiss Reformed. 

"For we were then immersed in the water, and, as it 
were, drowned unto our own death, representing His 
thereby." — E. Bosanquet ; French. 

" The idea to be sure loses much of its point when v^e 
compare it with our present form of baptism, but it is 
the more striking v/hen we think of the rite as it v/as 
originally constituted."— 1874; J. C. F. Schulz ; German. 
"It was the practice of the ancient Church not to 
SBrinkle the candidate with water, but to sink his whole 
or-anism into the fluid element."— 1835 ; W. Boehmer; 
German. 

CONCLUSION. 

" I would rather raise cabbages than be a scholar who 
does not agree with the leading voices of his age."— 
Erasmus, 

" Baptism, it is now generally agreed among scholars, 
was commonly by immersion."— G. P. Fisher, ^ale Uni- 
versity. 

" Eespecting the form of baptism, therefore, 
the impartial historian is compelled by exegesis and his- 
tory substantially to yield the point to the Baptists^^as is 
done in fact * '^ by most German scholars."— Fbilip 
Schaff, New York— ^Ae highest Presbyterian authority in 
the world. 



.224 encyclopp:dias, etc. 



CHAPTER X. 

UNSECTAKIAN WORKS, ENGLISH ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND 

DICTIONAEIES— 

WHAT IS THE VERDICT OF THESE AS TO THE MEA^^TING 
OF BAPTIZO, AND THE PRACTICE OF THE EARLIEST 
CHURCHES ? 

Edinburgh Encyclopedia says : *' In the time of the 
apostles the form of baptism was very simple. The person 
to be baptized was dipped in a river or vessel^ with the 
words which Christ had ordained, and, to express more 
fully his change of character, generally assumed a new 
name. It was not until 1311 that the legislature, in a 
council held at Ravenna, declared immersion or sprink- 
ling to be indifferent. In this country (Scotland), how- 
ever, sprinkling was never practiced in ordinary cases 
before the Reformation. From Scotland it made its way 
into England, in the reign of Elizabeth, but was not au- 
thorized by the Established Church. In the assembly of 
divines, held at Westminster in 1643, it was keenly 
debated whether immersion or sprinkling should be 
adopted. Twenty-five voted for sprinkling, and twenty- 
four voted for immersion; and even that small majority 
was attained at the earnest request of Doctor Lightfoot, 
who had acquired great influence in the assembly. 

Brand's Encyclopedia says : ^^ Baptism (Greek bapto — 
I dip) was originally administered by immersion, which 
act is thought by some necessary to the sacrament/' 

Chamber's Cyclopedia says : " Baptism, in the- 
ology formed from the Greek baptidzo or bapto (I dip, 
or plunge). Some are of the opinion that sprinkling in 
baptism was begun in cold countries. It was intro- 



ENCYCLOPEDIAS, ETC. . 225 

duced into England about the beginning of the ninth 
century/^ 

National Cyclopedia says : " The manner in which 
the rite was performed appears to have been at first by 
complete immersion. '^ In regard to the early custom of 
the English Church, it says : ^' It was the practice of the 
English, from the beginning, to immerse the whole body.^' 

The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the process of 
changing from the primitive custom. It says: '^Sev- 
eral of our Protestant divines, flying into Germany and 
Switzerland during the bloody reign of Queen Mary, 
and returning home when Queen Elizabeth came to the 
crown, brought back with them a great zeal for the 
Protestant Churches beyond the sea, where they bad been 
sheltered and received; and having observed that at 
Geneva, and other places, baptism was administered by 
sprinkling, they thought they could not do the Church 
of England a greater service than by introducing a prac- 
tice dictated by so great an authority as Calvin.'^ 

Rees' Cyclopedia says of baptism : " In primitive 
times this ceremony was performed by immersion.'' 

Penny Cyclopedia says : " The manner in which it 
was performed appears to have been at first by 
immersion." 

Encyclopedia Metropolitan says : " We readily ad- 
mit that the literal meaning of the word baptism is 
immersion, and the desire of resorting again to the most 
ancient practice of the Church — of immersing the body — 
which has been expressed by many divines, is well 
worthy of being considered.'' 

Encyclopedia Americana says : ^^ Baptism (that is, 
dipping, immersing, from the Greek baptidzo), was nsual 
with the Jews, even before Christ. In the time of the 
apostles the form of baptism was very simple. The per- 
son to be baptized was dipped in a river or vessel, with 



:''1.0 ENCYCLOPEDIAS, ETC. 

the words which Christ had ordered, and, to express 
more fully his change of character, generally adopted a 
new name." 

The Encyclopedia Ecclesiastica says : ^^ Whatever 
weight, however many, be in these reasons, as a defense 
f )r the present practic of sprinkling, it is evident that 
during the first ages of the Church, and for many cen- 
turies afterward, the practice of immersion prevailed." 

Ititto's Cyclopedia of Bib. Lit., vol. I, p. 288, says : 
"The whole body was immersed in water." 

The July number of the London Quarterly, the organ 
of the English tories, in an article on Christianity, com- 
pares the baptismal rites of the Latin and Greek Chris- 
tians. The reviewer says : 

" There can be no question that the original form of 
baptism — the very meaning of the word — was complete 
immersion in the deep baptismal waters; and that, at 
Last for four centuries, any other form was either un- 
known, or regarded as an exceptional, almost a monstrous 
case. To this form the Greek Church still rigidly 
adheres; and the most illustrious and venerstble portion 
of it, that of the Byzantine Empire absolutely repudiates 
and ignores any other mode of administration as essen- 
tially invalid. The Latin Church, on the other hand, 
doubtless in deference to the requirements of northern 
climate, and the convenience of custom, has altered the 
mode." 

Encyclopedia Metropolitana, London, says : "Whether 
immersion only was the mode of nsing this sacramental 
symbol is a question which need not detain the inquirer, 
since he will doubtless, in conformity with certain prin- 
ciples already established, perceive at once, that to such 
departure from apostolic custom, as may be supposed to 
exist in sprinkling rather than immersing the candidate, 
the discretionary authority of any Church clearly ex- 
tends." 



ENCYCLOPEDIAS, ETC. 227 

^' We would like to knovf why Protestants, who pro- 
fess to imitate so scrupulously the primitive Church, 
have not renewed the usage of giving baptism by immer- 
sion. — " Encyclopsed. Methodique Theol.;^ Vol, I ; p. 186« 

" It is, however, indisputable that in the primitive 

Church the ordinary mode of baptism was by immer- 
sion.^^ — ^' Chamber's Encyclopsedia,^^ Art. Baptism ; 1860. 

" The origin of Jewish proselyte baptism is later than 
that of Christian baptism. Baptism was probably always 
performed by immersion (untertauchen) in flowing wa- 
ter.'^— ^^ Encyclopedia,'' 2d ed., Art. ^^Taufe;'' 1877; 
Herzog. 

This article was prepared by Samuel Hinds, D. D., 
Bishop of Norwich. 



228 COMMENTARIES. 



CHAPTER XI. 

WHAT THE COMMENTATORS SAY. 

Dr. Rainsford : ^' The baptism of Jesus was prophetic 
of His suffering, death, burial, resurrection. As He v/as 
plunged by John's hands into the Jordan, so by the vio- 
lence of men He should be plunged into death, plunged 
under penal judgment. As John raised Plim from the 
waters, so He should be raised from the grave by the 
glory of the Father." 

John Henry Blunt, says : ^' Immersion was the or- 
dinary mode during as long as twelve centuries. The 
innovation of affusion, or pouring water on the bap- 
tized, afterward began in the Latin (Roman Catholic) 
Church, and has become the general Western usage. In 
the Eastern (or Greek) Church, baptism has always been 
by immersion, and the Eastern Church has never ceased 
to protest against the innovation in the mode of bap- 
tizing of the Latin Church." 

Whitby's Commentary on Rom. vi, 4 (in Bailey\s 
Manual of Baptism, p. 146), says : ^' Buried with Christ 
in baptism, by being buried under water, * * * 
this immersion being religiously observed by all Chris- 
tians for thirteen centuries, and approved- by our 
Churches." 

Stackhouse's History of the Bible, p. 1234 (in Bailey's 
Manual of Baptism, p. 146), says : " Several authors 
have shown and proved that this immersion continued 
as much as possible to be used for thirteen hundred 
years after Christ." 

Bishop Smith, of Kentucky (Bailey's Manual 147), 
says : ^^ Immersion was not only universal six or eight 
hundred years ago, but it was primitive and apostolic, 



COMMENTAEIES. 229" 

no other case standing on record by any other mode for 
the first three hundred years, except the few cases of 
those baptized clinically — that is, lying in bed." 

Bishop Jeremy Taylor (Conant^s Baptizein, p. 157), 
says: *'The custom of the ancient Churches was not 
sprinkling, but immersion." 

John Henry Blunt says : " Hence, as might be sup- 
posed, the primitive mode of baptism was by immersion, 
as we learn from the clear testimony of Holy Scriptures 
and of the fathers." 

Conybeare & Howson (Life and Epistles of Paul, 
p. 557), say: " This passage — buried ivith Christ in bap- 
tism (Rom. vi), when we sank beneath the waters — can not 
be understood unless it be borne in mind that the primitive 
baptism was by immersion.^^ 

Towerson (Bailey's Manual of Baptism, p. 150), says: 
" So much the more reason to represent the rite of im- 
mersion as the only legitimate baptism, because the only 
one that can answer the ends of its institution, and those 
things which were to be signified by it." 

Bishop Jeremy Taylor (in Conant^s Baptizein, p. 153): 
" Straightway Jesus went up oat of the water (saith the 
gospel); He came up, therefore He went down. Behold 
an immersion, not an aspersion. And the ancient 
Churches, following this usage of the gospels, did not, in 
their baptism, sprinkle water with their hands, but im- 
merged the subject." 

DEAN STANLEY ON BAPTISM. 

The following summary is given by the Christian Com- 
monwealth as the views of the late Dean Stanley on the 
subject of baptism: 

" 1. Immersion was wisely selected, not only because 
it was ^ a most delightful, ordinary, and salutary observ- 
ance,' but because it was significantly expressive of bap- 
tism. 



.230 COMMENTARIES. 

2. The word which Christ used to express baptism 
is literally translated immersion. 

3. Christ himself was immersed 

4 The apostles uniformly practiced immersion. 
6. Immersion was the invariably practice of the prim- 
itive Church. 

6. It was the almost universal practice of Christians 
for thirteen centuries. 

7. When the substitution of sprinkling for immer- 
sion began to find favor, it was stoutly resisted as an 
innovation. 

8. Even in some of the cold countries (Hussia, for in- 
stance,) the innovation has been up to the present time 
successfully resisted. 

9. Immersion, even in the Church of England, is still 
observed in theory. Elizabeth and Edward VI were 
both immersed. The Rubric, in the public baptism for 
infants, enjoins that, unless for special cases, they are to 
be dipped, not sprinkled. 

10. The change from immersion to sprinkling is 
greater than that v/hicli the Roman Catholic Church has 
made in administering the sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
per in the bread without wine.'^ 

^^ The change from immersion to sprinkling has set 
aside the larger part of the apostolic language regarding 
baptism, and has altered the very meaning of the word.'^ 
— '^Nineteenth Century,'^ 1879; Oct.; Dean Stanley. 

'^ If from the general scene we turn to the special 
locality of the river banks, the reason of John^s selection 
is at once explained. He came baptizing i. e., signifying 
to those who came to him^ as he plunged them under the 
rapid torrent, the forgiveness and forsaking of their 
former sins,'^ — '^ Sinai and Palestine;^' pp. 304, 306; 
1862; Dean Stanley. 

Dean Stanley (in an essay on baptism 1879) says: 
" Baptism Avas not only a bath, but a plunge — an entire 
submersion in the deep waters. * * * This was the 



COMMENTARIES. 231 

part of the ceremony upon v;bich the apostles laid so 
much stress. It seemed to them like a burial of the old 
former self and the rising up again of the new life.'' 

Stanley is the leading authority on baptism in the 
Church of England. 



16 



232 MISCELLANEOUS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

KEASONS WHY I SHOULD PEEFER IMMERSION, WERE 
SPRINKLING AND POURING ADMISSIBLE? 

1. I wish to honor and obey my Savior, and enjoy 
the blessing of obedience when I am baptized. In no 
way can we more highly honor Christ than by render- 
ing Him a cheerful, loving obedience. The highest 
worship we can render the Father and the Son is loving 
obedience. Him that serveth Me will My Father 
honor. By no other act than immersion can we obey, 
or honor, or serve Christ, because He has appointed or 
commanded no other act for baptism. As the Father 
and the Holy Spirit honored Christ in His baptism, so 
will Father and Son and Holy Spirit honor and bless 
us in this His appointed act. Christ has nowhere com- 
manded His disciples to be sprinkled or to be poured for 
baptism, or to have water sprinkled or poured upon 
them for baptism, but He has commanded them to fol- 
low Him in this : be immersed in water. 

2. T want to give my Savior and all men an unmistaka- 
ble, visible mark arid proof of my love for Him ; and 
He has made this act, and no other act, of baptism a vis- 
ible mark of love for Him. ^' Ye are my friends if ye 
do whatsoever I command you." And again, ^^ If ye 
love Me ye qoUI keep Qny commandments J ^ What does this 
mean? But if we truly love Him, or love Him in truth, 
we will love Him in deed — be willing to outwardly 
manifest it. " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not 



MISCELLANEOUS. 233 

the things I say ?" What hypocrisy is this ! He has ap- 
pointed but one act for baptism, and that is the act 
which He received at the hands of His servant, John 
the Baptist. No honest man ever doubted what that 
act was. He tells me and you, follow me, ^' For thus it 
becometh us, master and servant, to fulfill all righteous- 
ness." It is eminently proper and fitting for us to do 
this, and by solemn immersion in water by a church's 
officer, we alone can do this. How can we do this? By 
being baptized, and with the design, as Christ was ; and 
with the design or for the self-same purpose that Christ 
was baptized. He fulfilled in His baptism what He came 
to this earth to accomplish — not literally, else He 
needed not to have gone to the cross, but He could have 
summoned a chariot from the skies and ascended to the 
throne of glory He had for a season vacated to literally 
fulfill. But since Baptism itself is o. figure, all that He 
fulfilled figuratively. He fulfilled all righteousness fig- 
uratively. He died for our sins, and His death He pre- 
figured in His baptism. He was buried, and He arose 
out of the water, foreshadowing His own resurrection 
for our justification, and in pledge of our own resurrec- 
tion. He in figure fulfilled the three vital doctrines of 
the gospel. 

" Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel 
which I preached unto you, which also ye have received,, 
and wherein ye stand : by which also ye are saved, if ye 
keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye 
have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first 
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died 
for our sins according to the scriptures ; and that He was 
buried, and that He rose again the third day according 



234 MISCELLANEOUS. 

to the scriptures ; and that He was seen of Cephas, then 
of the twelve/^ (I Cor. xv, 1-5.) 

" Thus did the glorious Prince of Life 
All righteousness fulfill, 
In emblem of that fearful strife 
Where, by His Father's will, 
He sank beneath death's darker flood, 
And angels saw Him bathed in blood." 

I am willing to testify before all men that by His 
all-righteousness he prefigured in His baptism I have 
indeed been saved. 

3. In all things that concern our temporal happiness 
w^e must have them assured, or we can not rest serene 
and happy. If we loan a friend one thousand dollars of 
our gold, essential to our support, however responsible 
we believe him to be, we are scarcely willing to take 
his promise only to pay on a certain day ; we demand 
something more sure and certain in the shape of a note 
— a visible and effectual pledge. The Father in heaven 
recognizes this want of our natures, for He implanted it 
within His creatures, and has provided for its satisfaction. 
In addition to His promise to Noah, that the waters 
should no more overwhelm the earth. He pointed to the 
bow upon the clouded heaven as a visible token and 
confirmation of His promise, to strengthen Noah's faith. 
In addition to His promise to Abraham, that his seed 
should possess the Land of Promise, He gave him the 
rite of circumcision — a visible mark in his flesh, to 
confirm his faith and assure his hope. The spies had 
solemnly promised temporal salvation to Rahab ; but, as 
they were leaving, she earnestly said, ^' Give me a cer- 
tain and sure sign whereby I may know that I shall be 
remembered," and they told her to bind in the window 



MISCELLANEOUS. 235 

of her house the scarlet cord by which she had let them 
down and over the wall, and thus had saved them. And 
so my soul wants, demands for its perfect peace, a full 
assurance a certain and sure token of my resurrection 
from out the sleeping dead and the dark and silent tomb, 
in the glorious likeness of Christ my Savior, and this He 
has graciously given to me, and to all who truly love 
Him. And this one form of baptism — the likeness of 
His death — He has made that token and pledge of my 
resurrection in the likeness of His resurrection. The 
pledge reads thus : ^^ If we have been planted in the like- 
ness of His death''— mark it ! — " planted in the likeness 
of death '' — of His death — implies that there is but one 
likeness of death. Some twenty-five years since, a 
wealthy man offered a reward of one thousand dollars in 
gold to any artist who would paint for him a second 
likeness of Death — a burial being undoubtedly one.* 
I never heard of the thousand dollars being called 
for. There is but one likeness of death, and immersion 
is that likeness ; and every one who ever has been planted 
in the likeness of death will be raised on the resurrec- 
tion's morn in the likeness of Christ's own resurrection. 
No other form of baptism is God's visible pledge and 
seal of salvation. Mark it! The pledge is not to every 
one who has been or may be immersed, but only to 
those who have been or may be planted in the likeness 
of death. There must be a death before a burial, for it 
would be murder in the first degree to bury a person 
knowingly before his death. The subject must be dead 
to sin. 

4. There is another thing I wish to enjoy — a per- 

"■■■ I published the offer in my paper for months. 



236 MISCELLANEOUS. 

feet and a continual peace and joy ; and no one can enjoy 
this with a dissatisfied conscience toward God — its goad- 
ings* for conscious disobedience. Christ has appointed 
another precious blessing to doing as He says in this 
religious 4uty, viz : That it shall be the satisfaction of a 
good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ. No other act received for baptism will satisfy 
a good conscience — a conscience that is in accord with 
the teachings of God's Word. Educated and formed by 
that Word, and not influenced by prejudice. 

An Illustrative Fact. 

When Elder Penn was holding a meeting in the First 
Church, in this city (Memphis), an aged Methodist, of 
forty years' standing, and of unspotted Christian charac- 
ter, was in constant attendance. Elder Penn, as all re- 
vivalists should do, gave an opportunity each morning 
to unite with the Church, and there were daily adding of 
the saved to the Church. Mr. Allison selected the end 
seat, next to the baptistery, the better to observe. He was 
often seen wiping his eyes as the happy ones arose with 
beaming faces, and often shouts of praise. One morn- 
ing, at the close, as he was passing me in the aisle, he 
remarked, with eyes still undried, ^' I don't believe I can 
stand this much longer." " Has aught been said to hurt 
your feelings, Mr. A.? I will assure you it was not in- 
tended !" ^' No ! No ! not a word ; but those baptisms !" 
'^Why, brother, why will you withstand them? You 
want to enjoy the happiiless and joy you see those happy 
converts enjoy, and you may if you too will follow your 



* See Tract : ' * Conscience — What Is It ?" Have you a Good Con- 
science ? 



MISCELLANEOUS. 237 

Savior. Come forward to-morrow morning and offer 
yourself to tlte Church, and ask for baptism, and I 
assure you, on the word of the Savior, that He will 
bless you." He pressed my hand as he passed on with 
this: ^^ I believe I will have to do so." He took the 
front seat the next morning, and related his experience of 
grace, and, among other things, said : ^^ They told me 
that sprinkling would do as well as immersion, and I 
supposed it would ; but, brethren, I have for forty years 
been trying to make it do ; but it will not do. I have 
never been entirely satisfied, and now I want to follow 
my Savior and be baptized as He was." He was, of 
course, received, and when he rose from the baptismal 
water he shouted forth the joy of his o'erfull heart : ^^ It 
is enough ! enough ! blessed Savior !" Some three 
v/eeks after this he met, one morning, one of his old 
Methodist brethren, who bade him '^ Good morning, and 
how do you feel this morning?" ^' I can not say I feel 
right well ; my head feels heavy and dull ; the fact is, I 
don't believe I have had a full night's sleep in three 
weeks past." " Humph ! Your dip did not do as much 
for you as you thought it would ?" '^ Now, Brother C, 
let me tell you how it does me : I lay my head on the 
pillow when I go to bed, and I get to thinking and so 
happy that I can not sleep ; and when I awake in the 
night I get so happy that I can not sleep until the day 
breaks ; and I don't know that I ever will sleep all the 
night again. I never did so fully realize before, as I do 
now, that old hymn you and I have so often sang to- 
gether : 

' O, how happy are they 

Who their Savior obey 

And have laid up their treasures above.' " 



238 MISCELLANEOUS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CHILDREN OF CHRISTIANS NOT BAPTIZED IN THE 
EARLY CENTURIES — ACTS OF COUNCILS. 

Hugo Grotius testifies " that Chrysostom was bora of 
Christian parents, and educated by Meletius, a bishops- 
was not baptized until pa:^t tv/enty-one." And Mont- 
fancon further testifies, ^^ that his father's name was 
Secundus, and his mother's Anthusia, both Christians 
before John Vv^as born ; and that John was twenty-eight 
years of age when he was baptized." Jerome salth, 
"that, in Eastern Churches, the adults only vv^ere baj)- 
tized." — Epistle against the errors of John of Jerusa- 
lem. Again, in his epistle to Pumachius: "They are 
to be admitted to baptism to whom it doth properly be- 
long, viz : to those only who have been instructed in the 
faith." But Jerome (Protestant) was himself not bap- 
tized until thirty years of age. Erasmus, in " Yita Hie- 
ronymi," testifies "that Jerome, born in the city of Stry- 
don, of Christian parents, and brought up in the Christian 
religion, was baptized at Rome in the thirtieth year of 
his age." 

Acts of Councils show that infant baptism was un- 
known when they were held. The Council of Elvira or 
Granada, A. D. 305, enjoins a delay of baptism if the 
catechumeni act worldly ; also, adultery and inter-mar- 
riages should be checked, and ministers of religion 
should not have strange women with them. 

" The Council of Laodicea, A. D. 365, required notice 



MISCELLANEOUS. 239^ 



from the person wlio intended to be baptized, and 
resolved all should be instructed before they received it ; 
and determined that the baptized should rehearse the 

articles of the creed/' 

The Council of Constantinople, A. D. 384, decreed 
that certain persons should remain a long time under 
scriptural instruction before they received baptism. 

The Council of Carthage, in Canon 34, declares that 
'^s^'ck shall be baptized, who can not answer any longer, 
when those who are by them testify that they desired it.'^ 
A<^ain, "those who have no testimonial, and do not re- 
member that they were baptized, shall be baptized anew." 



.240 MISCELLANEOUS. 



CHAPTER XIY. 



WHY I AM A BAPTIST. 



There is one principle that distinguishes Baptists from 
all other denominations — a principle that is essential to 
a Christian Church, and which^ if disregarded, would 
blot the gospel of our salvation from the earth ; a prin- 
ciple which is the mission of Baptists alone to maintain 
and perpetuate, for to them alone it was delivered, to 
hold and to teach. This principle no other denomination 
ever did, does nov), or ever can hold. The principle — 
THE CHURCH AND ITS ORDINANCES BELONG 
TO THE SAVED ONLY. (John iii, 5.) 

And the Lord added to the Church daily those who 
were savedy or "the saved. ^' (Acts ii, 41.) 

John came to make ready a people prepared for the 
Lord — material for Christ's churches and kingdom ; he 
did this according to the express direction and com- 
mandment of the Lord. John was not commissioned to 
build a Church for Christ, nor to set up the kingdom of 
Him whose presence he announced, but only to prepare 
the material for them. 

The kingdom was the ante-type — the reality — of that 
kingdom foretold by Daniel 603 years before should be 
set up by the God of Heaven (Christ) in the days of the 
kings (emperors) of the fourth universal, the Roman 
or Iron Kingdom. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 241 



ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD 

OFFERED FOR SCRIPTURES TO WARRANT INFANT 

BAPTISM. 

In the discussion between the author and Elder A. B. 
Fly^ at Quincy, Tenn., some thirty years ago, a sight- 
draft on the Bank of Trenton, signed by three of the 
wealthiest men in the county, was offered Mr. Fly for a 
precept for, or one clear example of, infant baptism in 
the Bible, the moderators being judges. Mr. Ely, with 
the assistance of Mr. McEarland, his presiding elder, 
were unable to present one. The offer was published in 
the Tennessee Baptist, open to any one for a year, with- 
out any one applying for the reward. A young Method- 
ist minister saw it, and read his New Testament through 
two or three times, expecting to find it ; but at the next 
monthly Baptist church-meeting in the neighborhood he 
applied for baptism. That man is Dr. Hackett, joint 
editor of the Southern Baptist Record. 



242 APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX A 



Let us see what Mr. Campbell said about this God- 
given name : 

Mil. Har., vol. IV, p. 24 : ^^ Have we any divine au- 
thority for being called Christians at all ? Was the name 
Christian first given by heaven, or men? We may fear- 
lessly affirm that no man can possibly prove that it was 
divinely introduced or sanctioned. Now, if the name 
Christian had been given at Antioch twenty years before 
by divine command, what an ungodly man must Luke 
have been during these twenty years after^ and fourteen 
years before, in all thirty-five years, never to have called 
them Christians, but, on the contrary, v^aywardly and 
frowardly, to have called them disciples all the time. [Jn- 
less we suppose this man Luke to have been a bold and 
daring offender against a divine revelation, it is infallibly 
certain that he, and his companions, the apostles, did not 
receive the name Christian as coming from God, but 
from the rude and profane Antiochians.*' 

2dil. Har., vol. IV, p. 365 : ^' I know there are among 
us some who have sought distinction because of their 
own ideas, their grand discoveries, their priority in some 
idea, saying, doing, etc. One claims to have been the 
first to discover the true gospel ; another, the true order 
of ownership; another, the true doctrine of human souls ; 
another, the true doctrine of eternal life ; another, the 
value of the Christian name; another, the true version 
of Acts xi, 26 ; and many there be who have some pam- 
pered little hobby, on which, when mounted, they are 
more laughed at than laughing. This is all human no- 
tions." 



APPENDIX. 243 

Mil. Har., vol, IV, p. 366 : " The moment any man 
proves to me that Paul and Barnabas, by divine oracle, 
called the disciples Christians^ no matter where they did, 
first or last, I yield to that name as the exclusive name 
of the followers of Christ. I will wear no other ; and I 
will contend for one name as for one faith, one Lord, 
one baptism, although Paul forgot it in his letter to the 
Ephesians.'^ 

Mil. Har., vol. IV, p. 366 : " I was not willing to 
admit that the man who said he was for Christ was as 
great a sectary as he w-ho said he was for Paul. ^ * * 
If I am not now fully convinced that there is as much 
of the spirit of intolerance and heresy in contending for 
the name Christian as for the name Baptist, I begin to 
think more favorably of those great and good men who 
have assumed that the man who said he v/as for Christ 
alone, might be as very a sectary as any of the others.'' 

Mil. Har., p. 378 : ^^ It is however but an earthly name. 
There are no Christians in heaven — no Jews in heaven — 
no divisive names in heaven ; but there are saints in 
heaven, holy brethren, and other designations of great 
sge and of unquestionable divine authority. Abraham 
and Moses, though no Christians, were saints." 

Later still, in his notes on Acts, Mr. Campbell asserts 
that the disciples obtained this name ^^ from them" (the 
Antiochians). Mr. C. subsequently became quieted, but 
we have not found where he became converted. 

Kuein. Welts., quoted by Comprehensive Commentary : 
^' Beyond all controversy, the name was given them 
b}^ the Gentiles, probably by the Romans, as the very 
form of it suggests." 

Dr. Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, says : " It is clear 
the appellation ' Christian' could not have been assumed 
by themselves. To the contemptuous Jew, they were 
Nazarenes, Galileans, from whence nothing good and no 
prophet could come. The Jews could add nothing to 



244 APPENDIX. 

the scorn which these names expressed. They would 
not have defiled the glory of the name of their Messiah 
by applying His title to those whom they regarded as the 
followers of a pretender. The name Christian, then, 
which in the only other cases where it appears, is used 
contemptuously ; and it could not have been applied to 
the early disciples by themselves. It must therefore 
have been imposed upon them by the Gentile world. 
The inhabitants of Antioch were celebrated for their 
wit and propensity for conferring nicknames.'^ 

Dr. Watson, in his Bible Dictionary, says : 
" It is probable that the name Christian, like that of' 
Nazarenes and Galileans, was given to the disciples ot 
our Lord in reproach, or contempt. What confirms this 
opinion is, that the people of Antioch in Syria, Acts xi, 
26, where they were first called Christians, are observed 
by Zosineus, Procopius, and Zonaras, to have been re- 
markable for their scurrilous jesting. Some have indeed 
thought that this name was given by the disciples to 
themselves ; others, that it was imposed on them by divine 
authority ; in either of which cases surely we should have 
met with it in the subsequent history of the 'Acts, and 
in the Apostolic Epistles, all of which were written some 
years after ; whereas it is found in but two more places 
in the New Testament — Acts xxvi, 28, where a Jew is 
the speaker, and in I Peter iv, 16, where reference appears 
to be made to the name as imposed upon them by their 
enemies. The word used. Acts xi, 26, signifies simply 
to be called or named, and when Doddridge and a few 
others take it to imply a divine appointment, they disre- 
gard the usus loquendi (established acceptation of the 
term), which gives no support to that opinion.^' 

Coneybeare and Howson, in their great work, Life 
AXD Epistles of St. Paul, after showing the name 
could not have been given by the Jews, say : 

" Nor is it likely that the ^ Christians,' gave this name 
to themselves. In the Acts of the Apostles, and in their 



APPENDIX. 245 

own letters, we find them designating themselves as 
^ brethren/ ' disciples ^ ^ believers/ ^ saints/ Only in 
two places do we find the term Christian ; and in both 
instances it is implied to be a term used by those who 
are without. There is little doubt that the name origi- 
nated with the Gentiles, who began now to see that this 
new sect was so far distinct from the Jews that they 
might naturally receive a new designation. And the 
form of the word implies that it came from the Komans,. 
not from the Greeks. Thus ^ Christian' was the name 
which naturally found its place in the reproachful lan- 
guage of their enemies. In the first instance, we have 
every reason to believe that it was a term of ridicule and 
derision. And it is remarkable that the people of Antioch 
were notorious for inventing names of derision, and for 
turning their wit into the channels of ridicule. In every 
way there is something very significant in the place where 
we first received the name we bear. Not in Jerusalem^ 
the city of the Old Covenant, the city of the people who 
were chosen to the exclusion of all others, but in a 
heathen city — the Eastern center of Greek fashion and 
Roman luxury.'^ 

Landmarks of Truth, by D. M. Evans, Philadelphia, 

1882, says: '' The term was given as one of reproach," 

Dr. Wheden, in his Commentary, says : " The Greeks 
and Romans gave them this name." 

Dr. Ellicott, in his Commentary, says : ^' The Romans 
stationed at Antioch >K * * gave them this name." 

Tacitus, Ann. XV, p. 44, says: "Nero punished with 
refined cruelty those wliom the vulgar called Christians." 

Chrysostom, who preached in this very city, said of its 
wicked inhabitants : " Although they had invented the 
Christian name, they left to others the practice of the 
Christian virtues." 

Paton J.'Gloag, D. D., Minister of Blantyr, vol. I, 
Edinburg Edition, 1870: "The name ^Christian' was 



246 APPENDIX. 

first given to the disciples at Antioch, bnt by whom it is 
not mentioned. It is improbable that it was given by the 
disciples themselves. The name only occurs twice again 
in the New Testament, and in both instances as proceed- 
ing from those who were not Christians. Thus Agrippa 
said to Paul : 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Chris- 
tian' (Acts xxvi, 28); and Peter says: 'If any man 
suffer as a Christian (the name given to them by their 
enemies) let him not be ashamed' (I Peter iv, 16). If it 
had originated in the Church, we would have expected 
its more frequent occurrence. * * * Still less can 
we suppose that it was given them by the Jews. ^ * * 
It, therefore, remains that the name proceeds from the 
Gentiles.'' 

Meyer on Acts, Edinburgh Edition, 1877: "This 
name decidedly originated not in, but outside of the 
Church, seeing that the Christians in the New Testament 
never use it of themselves, but designate it of themselves 
by Mahetes, Adelphoi, believers, etc.; and seeing that in 
the tvfo other passages where Christianoi occurs, this 
appellation distinctly appears as extrinsic to the Church 
(Acts xxvi, 28; I Peter iv, 16). * * . The origin of 
the name must be derived /rom the Gentiles at Antioch." 

Riehm's Dictionary of Biblical Antiquity (now in 
process of publication), p. 235, in the article Christen, 
or Christianer : " The name was applied to them by the 
non-Christians, and, in fact, as the Latin formation shows, 
undoubtedly by the heathen dwellers of the city. The 
Jews, who also hoped for the coming of the promised 
Christ, preferred to call the despised sect (Acts xxiv, 14; 
xxviii, 22) Nazarenes (Acts xxiv, 5). He adds that it 
' came into use in apostolic times only among non- 
Christians; thus by Agrippa (Acts xxvi, 28), and so 
also the lips of those from whom the Christians had to 
suffer (I Peter iv, 16). It first came into use among the 
Christians also, as a respectful designation applied by 
themselves, in the second century.' " 



APPENDIX. 24T 

J. P. LangG, translated and Edited by Philip Schaff: 
" It has long since, and with great truth, been said, that 
the Christians did not originally apply this name to them- 
selves ; for throughout the whole New Testament it is 
employed by those who were not Christians. Neither 
could the Jews have introduced it, since they would never 
have applied the Messianic name, which they held to be 
sacred, to a hated sect ; it would have, according to their 
views, been desecrated by such a use. No other explana- 
tion is possible, except that the name proceeded from the 
Pagans J and this view is sustained by the form of the word, 
which, in every respect, resembles the names of political 
parties, such as Herodians [Matt, xxii, 16], Csesareans, 
Pompeians.^^ 

Wm. Gilson Humphry, M. A., Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge : " This name evidently did not originate with 
the disciples themselves, and in the New Testament 
there is no trace of its being adopted by them. It occurs 
only twice after this. * -t^ * It was applied by ad- 
versaries.^' 

Dr. Herman Olshausen, translated from the German 
by A. C Kendrick : " This name proceeded from the 
Gentiles, and, as the form of it shows, from Romans. 
* ^ ^ The name certainly did not take its rise among 
the Christians themselves, because it is not used in the 
New Testament in a good sense.'' 

Life and Epistles of Paul, by Thos Lewin, M. A., F. 
S. A.,Trinity College, Oxford, Third ed, vol. I, pp. 96, 97 : 
^^ As the first great impression was made on the heathen 
world at Antioch, the disciples weye called Christians 
first at Antioch. * ^ The explanation is, that the 
Romans, who made Antioch their headquarters in the 
East, taking the word Christos to be the real name of the 
founder of the society, adopted the Greek word, and 
Latinized the form of it." 

Hackett says : *^ It is evident that the Jews did n(>t 
apply it first to the disciples. ^- ^ >i^ It is improbable 



248 APPENDIX . 

that the Christians themselves assumed it ; such an origin 
would be inconsistent with its impregnant use in the 
New Testament. It occurs only in Acts xxvi, 28 ; I Pet. 
iv, 16, and in both places proceeds from those out of the 
Church. >!< ^ * Probably the heathen, Avhether they 
were Greeks or Romans, or native Syrians, needing a 
new appellation for the new sect, called them Christians." 

International Revision Commentary : '^ It certainly 
was not given by the Jews. >K * ^ ]^or did the fol- 
lowers of our Lord assume it, for they employed the titles, 
^ disciples/ * brethren,^ ^ saints.' The term came from 
without, and from the Pagans." 

The Pulpit Commentary, by Farrar, Cotterill, Tulloch, 
Rawlison and Plummer, London and New York : " The 
name not given by Jews. >K * * ;^ot by disciples. 
^ * * Nor by divine direction. It was either 'a 
name of reproach or a convenient designation of a rap- 
idly enlarging society." 

The Bible Educator, by Plumtree, London and New 
York : " ^ Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, 
now acknowledged by all competent scholars to have no 
such meaning * ^ ^ With a little — with but scanty 
measure of proof, thou persuadest me to be a Christian," 
^re words far more strikingly characteristic. He uses 
for the name of the new sect that which was essentially 
Latin in its form. ^ ^ ^ ' He speaks altogether in 
the tone of sceptical sarcasm Avhich we might expect to 
find in one who had been the friend of Nero." 

The Bible Commentary, by F. C. Cook, M. A., Canon 
of Exeter, preacher at Lincoln's Inn, chaplain in ordi- 
nary to the Queen, vol. II, Chas. Scribner & Sons: 
^' Christians. A name coined on the model of Herodi- 
ans, Pompeians, etc., by the Pagans of Aiitioch, the 
population of w^hich was given to jests and gibes. 
* ^ * It was not assumed by Christians, for Luke 
<iid not adopt it, and it is found in only two other pas- 



APPENDIX. 249' 

sages of the New Testament, in each case in the mouth 
of an adversary; as a matter of fact (Acts xxvi, 28),. 
twenty years later than this date ; and hypothetically (I 
Pet. iv, 16). Turtullian complained of the detestation 
with which the name was regarded. ^^ 

Life and Work of Paul, by F. W. Farrer, D. D.„ 
F. R, S., Trinity College, Cambridge, vol. I, pp. 298, 
299 : ^^An hybrid and insulting designation was in- 
vented in the frivolous streets of Antioch, and around 
it clustered forever the deepest faith and the purest glor^^ 
of mankind. I have assumed that the name was given 
by Gentiles, and given more or less in sport. It could 
not have been given by the Jews. * * >i^ ]^or was 
it in all probability a term invented by the Christian,^ 
themselves." 

French, on the Study of Words: ^'Imposed,'' I say, 
^^for it is clearly a name which they did not give to 
themselves, but received from their adversaries. * * ^ 
And as it was a name imposed by adversaries * * >i^ i-^ 
was plainly the heathen, and not the Jews, that gave it." 

Albert Barnes : '^ I incline to the opinion that it was 
given to them by the Gentiles. * * * If it had been 
assumed by them, or if Barnabas and Saul had conferred 
the name, the record would probably have been to that 
effect, not simply that they ^ were called," but that 
they took this name, or that it was given by the 
apostles." 

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown: "This name origi- 
nated, not within, but without the Church. Not with 
their Jewish enemies ^- * * but with the heathen in 
Antioch. ^^ * '^ It was not at first used in a good 
sense as Ch. xxvi, 28; I Pet. iv, 16, shows.^ 



)) 



Cyclopaedia, McClintock and Strong : " It is most 
likely to have been suggested by the Gentile inhabit- 
ants of Antioch." 



250 APPENDIX. 

Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia : *^]Sickname, meaning 
* partisan of Christ/ given by the people of Antioch." 

Henry Alford, D. T)., Trinity College, Cambridge, vol. 
TI, London, 1855: "This name is never used by 
Christians c/ themselves in the New Testament. Only as 
spoken by or coming from those without the Church." 

J. ]SI. Atwater, Ada, Ohio, in Christian Standard 
(Carapbellite): " I fully accept the name * Christian ' as 
one of the names of believers, while I utterly deny that 
it is the revealed name, or is in any v>'ay exalted in the 
Bible. It seems to me that it is incredible that God re- 
vealed a special, chosen name for all the followers of 
Christ, and then out of the entire number of the apostles 
only one should be found using it, and he only once ! 
Many of the others wrote books long after the rise of 
this name. They constantly talk of what we call 
^ Christians,' but they always chose some other name. 
Jude wrote one letter; James v/rote a longer one; John 
wrote three letters and the long book of Revelation ; but 
they never use this name. Paul wrote thirteen long 
letters to churches, pastors, etc., and made many recorded 
speeches ; he used other titles hundreds of times in those 
<3ases where we employ the word ^Christians;' but he 
never used the appointed name even once ! Such conduct 
on the part of Paul is inconceivable. ^-^^ ^' ^ Peter's 
use of the name ^ Christian' (I Peter iv, 16) shows that 
it was used by opposers as a term of hatred and contempt, 
for they were liable to ' suifer ' as Christians, and needed 
to be exhorted not to be 'ashamed' on that account. 
But the great body of the best critics do not see in Peter's 
expression anything more than a toleration, or per- 
haps adoption, of a term used by the outside world. I 
base this statement on a pretty wide examination of 
iiuthorities." 



APPENDIX. 251 

B. 

CERTIFICATES VS. DITZLER. 

Rev. Jacob Ditzler, with whom we debated at Carroll- 
ton, Mo., in 1875, and in which discussion he surrendered 
the Abramic covenant as affording any ground for infant 
baptism — which was acknowledging a disastrous defeat — 
is, we learn, denying the stenographer's report, and charg- 
ing us with forging the report. 

Yfe submit the following certificates from most reliable 
men. J. B. Hale was the President of the Board of 
Moderators. 

Mr. Ditzler convicts himself of falsehood when he de- 
nies the correctness of the report. He gave a certificate, 
over his own name, of the correctness of the published 
book : 

Carrollton, Mo., Sept. 23, 1876. 

Dr. J. R. Graves — Bear Sir: You call my attention 
to the note of the reporter, found on page 692 of the 
published debate between Dr. Ditzler and yourself, held 
at this place, in November, 1875, and ask if I have a dis- 
tinct recollection of the circumstance therein alluded to, 
and whether it is a correct report of the language used 
by Dr. Ditzler and yourself on that occasion? Would 
say, in reply, that I have a tolerable distinct recollection 
of the circumstance mentioned in the note. According 
to my recollection, the language used by the reporter in 
the note is substantially a correct report of what was said 
by Dr. Ditzler and yourself on that occasion. 

Very respectfully, John B. Hale, 

Presiding Iloderator. 

(As published in "The Baptist," July 3, 1880.) 

Kansas City, Mo., March 27, 1891. 
I attended the discussion at Carrollton, in November, 
1875, and was present when the conversation, in foot- 



252 APPENDIX. 

note in published debate, was had, and certify to its cor- 
rectness. Am in full accord with Col. John B. Hale, 
the Moderator of the debate, in his published statement. 

G. W. Hatcher, 
Thomas A. Welch, 
Wm. S. Ceonch, 
*L. TuLL, M. D., 
Egbert C. Ely, 
William Agee, 
Jas. F. Tull, 
Peter Austin. 

* Minister of Christian Church. 



HuMisTON, Iowa. 

It seems to me that I could swear to nothing in more 
positive terms than I could to the correctness of the note 
by the reporter on page>692 of the debate. I heard Mr. 
Ditzler give up the covenants, out and out, and it seems 
strange to me that he would make any attempt to deny it. 

I. M. Neelson. 



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